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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE ORGANIZATION OF 
INSTRUCTION MATERIALS 



WITH SPECIAL RELATION TO THE 
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM 



By Jr- W. HECKERT, Ph.D. 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO"' EDUCATION, No. 87 



PUBLISHED BY 

%tatfitt& College. Columbia WLnitet^itg 

NEW YORK CITY 
1917 

''bnograph 



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COPYRIGHT, 191 7, nv 
W. J. HECKERT 



MAR 1 1 1918 



©aA494290 



PREFACE 

For a number of years the writer has been engaged in training 
teachers for elementary and secondary schools. During this time 
he has had excellent opportunities to observe the struggle of begin- 
ning teachers in their attempts to interpret courses of study. He 
has frequently had occasion to listen to expressions of discourage- 
ment from teachers of experience, both trained and untrained, 
who were attempting to follow courses of study that failed to give 
a clear statement of the subject matter to be taught and the method 
of teaching it. Often he has found such teachers to have recourse 
to courses of study of other systems in spite of the fact that the 
fundamental plan of such courses might not be in harmony with 
that of the system to which it was being adapted. The present 
study is an attempt to show how such courses of study may be made 
of greater service to teachers in their task of making instruction 
materials meaningful, of bringing about organization of knowledge 
on part of children. 

The assumptions in the discussion of this problem are as follows, 
(i) The course of study of a school system is a plan of action for 
the teachers of the system; it lUst therefore indicate clearly what 
is to be taught and how such materials are to be made real experi- 
ences on part of children. (2) The object of teaching must be 
the organization of experiences by children with a view of making 
them available for further use and, for this reason, helps given 
teachers on "how to teach" must concern themselves largely with 
the problem of how children's experiences are to become organized. 
I am greatly indebted to Professor Frank M. McMurry for help- 
ful suggestions and criticisms in making the study; to the works 
of Professors Dewey and I. E. Miller for a statement of the psychol- 
ogy of thinking; to Dr. William H. Kilpatrick for suggesting the 
final arrangement of chapters ; to the critic teachers of the William 
McGuflfey School of Miami University for supplying some of the 
illustrations of children's organizations of the third chapter and for 
trying out the concrete plans of the fifth chapter. The bibliog- 
raphy indicates those books most frequently used in connection 
with the various phases of the discussion. 

J. W. H. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. Organization of Experience: Its Value and Its Factors . . i 

1. Why Organization of Facts is Important i 

2. How the Mind Organizes Its Experiences 3 

3. Factors in Organization More Fully Described .... 5 

4. Automatic Organization 13 

5. Conclusions 15 

II. Organization Genetically Considered 16 

1. The Problem in Different Stages of Development ... 16 

2. Choice of Materials in Different Periods of Development . 20 

3. Arrangement of Facts in Different Periods 24 

4. Conclusions 30 

III. Organization as a Factor est Child Lite 32 

1. How Adults Meet Demand for Organization Recalled . . 32 

2. Extent to which Children Conform to Procedure of Adults . ^^ 

3. How Children Deal with Problems in School 42 

4. Conclusions 50 

IV. Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 52 

1. The Importance of Organization as an End in the Teaching 

Process 52 

2. Extent to which Organization of Instruction Materials for 

Teaching is Regarded as a Problem in Course of Study- 
Making 54 

3- How should Instruction Materials be Organized .... 63 

4. How Courses of Study Should Arrange Instruction Materials 80 

5. The Use of Present Courses of Study in the Process of Re- 

building. Other Suggestions 82 

V. Application of the Principles Stated to Curricuxum-Making 

— Type Illustrations 84 

Bibliography 107 



ORGANIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 
MATERIALS 

CHAPTER ONE 
ORGANIZATION: ITS VALUE AND ITS FACTORS 

I. Why Organization or Facts is Important 

Why do we attempt to organize knowledge? Venn holds that 
"the object of all classification is to keep our control over the 
parts by marshalling the objects in order ; to know where to find 
a thing when it is wanted, and to economize our statements in the 
retention and communication of our knowledge." ^ To these 
ends he adds another which he designates as the "ulterior purpose" 
and which he states as "the aid and the stimulus to fresh study." ^ 
This latter end to him appears the most important of all. Bain 
agrees when he holds that "a science has a certain order or arrange- 
ment of topics, suitable to its ends in gathering, in verifying, and 
in communicating knowledge." Mill holds that "the end of classi- 
fication, as an instrument for the investigation of nature, is ... to 
make us think of those objects together, which have the greatest 
number of important common properties; and which, therefore, 
we have oftenest occasion, in the course of our inductions, for 
taking into joint consideration." Availability of facts, therefore, 
either for practical application, the solution of practical problems, 
teaching, or for the extension of knowledge, are here indicated 
as the chief ends of organization. In these statements there is 
another end implied which is emphasized by Hobhouse when he 
says "the ideal of knowledge, as we understand it, is to reduce 
the mass of facts with which it deals to an orderly and intelligible 
system." In this system every element, whether particular fact 
or general law, would be explained by its relation to the system as 
a whole." ^ Creighton expresses the same idea when he maintains 
that in a system "no fact is allowed to stand by itself, but has to 
take its place as a member of a larger system of facts, and receive 
its value and meaning from this connection." ^ And again, when 

1 Emp. Logic, p. 323. - Ibid., p. 342. 

^ Theory of Knowledge, pp. 473-474. * Introductory Logic, p. 340. 



2 Organization of Instruction Materials 

he says, "The better we are able to put together in a systematic 
way the various facts which we have learned about geology, or 
astronomy, or the weather, the more significant each fact becomes." 
The geologist may be able to tell from the appearance of the cliffs 
what has taken place in a locality thousands of years ago. And, 
similarly, for the fisherman, the temperature, direction of the wind, 
its rising or its falling, etc., are all signs from which he is able to 
infer, more or less correctly, the kind of weather which may be 
expected." Organization is here considered the key to meaning 
and, therefore, the basis of rational behavior. Facts which are 
unrelated to other facts, which do not find a place in some sys- 
tem, some scheme, remain meaningless and do not affect rational 
conduct. 

Authors of text-books on rhetoric insist upon the importance of 
good organization of thought as a means of securing clearness, and 
much space is devoted to showing just how clearness may be brought 
about in this manner. " Unity," "Coherence," and "Emphasis" are 
insisted upon with this idea in mind in connection with every form 
of discourse. Books and discussions noted for clearness, simplic- 
ity, and force are those which are well organized. Drummond's 
"The Greatest Thing in the World," Fiske's "The Critical Period 
in American History" (both mentioned by McMurry for that rea- 
son), Burke's Speech on Conciliation, and Spencer's "Essays on 
Education" are illustrations of good organization. 

The importance of organization is well illustrated in industrial 
concerns, such as large manufacturing establishments. In the 
manufacture of an automobile, for example, hundreds, or even 
thousands, of workmen may be engaged. Some of these men 
make the various parts, each producing the same part over and 
over again during his working hours. Others assemble these parts, 
some the several units, such as the wheels, the rear axle, the engine, 
etc., and others these minor units into the complete car. Each of 
these men, therefore, plays a very definite part in the manufacture 
of the car and incidentally holds a very definite relation to all the 
other men engaged in the process. In establishments in which 
the organization is perfect there is no waste of time or effort on 
the part of the men; the product, therefore, can be efficiently and 
economically made. 

The above illustration will serve not only to indicate the impor- 
tance of organization in the industries, but it will also show the 
5 Op. cit., pp. 383-384. 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors 3 

significance of organization of knowledge for behavior or conduct. 
Before the men employed in an industrial establishment can work 
efficiently a method of procedure — an organization of the factory 
■ — must have been thought out, or planned, by somebody. The 
efficient organization of the factory, therefore, is merely the coun- 
terpart of efficient planning or organization of ideas. 

It matters little, therefore, what fields of knowledge or of con- 
duct are under consideration, whether we take the sciences dealing 
more especially with classifications, or those which attempt the 
development of principles or laws; or whether we turn from these 
fields of theoretical endeavor to the world of practical affairs, 
— organization is always conducive to clearness, to easy control 
over facts, making possible their application to the solution of 
practical problems, or to the extension of knowledge, and, ulti- 
mately, to rational and efficient conduct. 

2. How THE Mind Organizes its Experiences 

How does the mind organize its experiences? Organization 
of knowledge is the product of thought or reflection. "It is by 
judging or thinking," says Creighton,^ "that we attempt to bring 
the various parts of our experiences into relation with one another." 
"Judgment combines the new facts with which it deals, with what 
is already known, in such a way as to give to each its proper place 
in relation to, and interdependence with, the others. Different 
facts are not only brought together, but they are arranged, related, 
systematized." ^ It is evident therefore that whenever organiza- 
tion of facts is a desideratum thought or reflection is the essential 
condition. The problem of the organization of knowledge thus 
becomes the problem of the psychology of thinking, the problem 
of "how do we make facts meaningful" becomes the problem of 
"how do we think." Professor Dewey gives the following analy- 
sis of a complete act of thought. There is, first, a felt difficulty; 
second, there is an attempt to locate and define the difficulty; 
third, there follow suggestions of possible solutions; fourth, the 
development by reasoning of the bearings of the suggestion; fifth, 
further observation and experiment leading to its acceptance or 
rejection; that is, the conclusion of belief or disbelief. The first 
of these steps conditions the other four; unless there is a felt diffi- 
culty there will be no thinking. The second step has for its object 
6 p. 342. 7 p. 340. 



4 Organization of Instruction Materials 

making the difficulty as clear as possible, to determine "just what 
is the trouble, or to make clear the specific character of the prob- 
lem." The third step, the advancement of a hypothesis, controls 
the selection of facts essential to the solution of the problem. The 
fourth step has for its object establishing the implications of a 
given suggestion or hypothesis, selecting and arranging facts thought 
to have a bearing upon the case with a view of establishing a solu- 
tion. The final step concerns itself with the verification of the 
tentative solution by the introduction of further facts, or the appli- 
cation of the tentative conclusion to other situations definitely 
planned for the purpose, leading finally to the complete establish- 
ment of the tentative conclusion or to its rejection as unsatisfactory. 
From this analysis it will be evident that organization of thought 
results in response to a problem, and that it consists in the selec- 
tion and arrangement of facts with the guidance of a hypothesis 
proposing a tentative solution. 

An outline of Wilson's essay, "The Truth of the Matter," as 
given in Professor Genung's "Working Principles of Rhetoric," 
will serve to illustrate this theory. 

"Introduction: The ideal of writing history is to make a narrative that out of 
the profusion of actual facts so selects the few it can handle as to convey an im- 
pression of the whole truth and of every order of truth. 

I. The defect of the present-day "dispassionate" ideal. 

1. While it gives facts, it does not adequately impress the truth. 

2. And this because it lacks the art necessary to this latter object. 

II. The historiati's art and its end analyzed. 

1. From Macaulay's art, masterly but lacking, we learn that, while 

our narrative must contain in solution a judgment of things, that 
judgment must not be imposed from without as an advocate's plea 
but evolved from within as a discovered impression. 

2. From Carlyle's and Gibbon's lack, respectively, we learn that, while 

the impression must be unitary, it must be neither too lurid and 
passionate nor too pale and remote. 

3. From Green's lack we learn that, while scholarship and artistry may 

be in masterly combination, the result wiU fail unless the plan and 
variety of the telling answer to the plan and variety of the fact. 

III. The supreme requirements that this analysis suggests. 

1. That impressions be conveyed in the fresh and living spirit of impres- 

sion and not in the severe spirit of scholarly accumulation. 

2. That the color and proportion of such impressions be conceived as 

they must have come to the actors in the midst of the events. 

Conclusion: This art of telling the truth requires imagination as well as scholar- 
ship, literary art as well as candor and honesty." 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors 5 

The following facts stand out in this outline: First, the incentive 
to reflection or thought which led to the resulting organization, or 
reorganization of facts, was a difi&culty, an unexplained situation, 
containing some elements or factors whose relationship was not 
clear. Mr. Wilson asks, "How should history be written in order 
to convey the whole truth?" because there is a wide divergence of 
views on this point as shown by the actual practice of historians. 
Second, such facts are selected as have a direct bearing upon the 
difliculty or problem, and will therefore make possible its solution. 
Finally, the facts found to have a bearing upon the problem are 
arrranged in such a manner as to make the solution proposed clear, 
forceful and sound. 



3. The Factors in Organization more fully Described 

(a) The Problem. What is the nature of the problem which in- 
duces organization? The presence of a problem is not an indica- 
tion, however, that it will function effectively in the organization 
of experiences. Problems which seem of the greatest significance 
to one individual, or class, are ignored by others. The problem 
of the theologian quite generally fails to be appreciated by the 
scientist; that of the scientist by the merchant; while those of the 
merchant remain a matter of indifference to other classes. Children 
often show a marked indifference toward the problem of the text- 
book, and, at times, toward those of the adults in their environ- 
ments. The problem which is to induce mental activity leading to 
organization of experiences must appear vital to the individual; 
unless he feels its importance and appreciates in some degree that 
something is to be gained through its solution, something worth 
while is to be known, no effort will be put forth. 

How will such a problem arise? The fact that an individual 
feels the significance of a vital problem, feels its worth to himself, 
is an indication that it is closely related to his experience. His 
experience is inadequate for instant recognition of relationships, or 
immediate solution of the problem, but is nevertheless the essen- 
tial factor giving rise to it. Mr. Wilson's problem, "How should 
history be written so as to convey the whole truth?" is the out- 
growth of his experience as a student, teacher, and writer of history. 
Mr. Darwin, in his "Origin of the Species," before plunging into the 
discussion of the subject, gives us an account of the state of knowl- 
edge on this topic up to the time of his writing. These few pages 



6 Organization of Instruction Materials 

show that because of his comprehensive knowledge of the field 
has it become possible for him to see the significance of the problem 
which he then takes up for solution. Problems to be vital to an 
individual must therefore be closely related to his experience, must, 
in fact, be an outgrowth of this experience.^ 

But while experience, by making apparent the contradictory 
nature of facts and judgments, makes it possible for problems to 
arise, it must not be assumed that mere contradictoriness of judg- 
ments in itself makes a problem vital. Mr. Wilson takes up the 
solution of his problem not merely because he finds that historians 
differ in their method of treating historical data but because he 
feels that it is a point of great importance in the writing of history 
to represent each period truthfully, and that the method of the 
historian has a very close relation to this end. A problem will be 
appreciated as vital only when it is recognized as having direct rela- 
tion to the attainment of some end which, if realized, will mean 
the satisfaction of a need. "Experience," it has been pointed out, 
"may lead one to see a value in work that to the inexperienced 
would seem mere useless drudgery. But the experience merely 
makes clear the connection between the work and the need. It 
cannot create the need. The energy in a motive comes from within. 
. . . Experience merely enables this energy to acquire clearness 
and direction, and thus to become a conscious motive." ^ While 
experience does not create needs it does so modify the fundamental 
native needs that they express themselves in very different ways in 
different individuals. As Professor Thorndike says, "Each indi- 
vidual acquires interests in a special circle of friends, special divi- 
sions of knowledge, a special profession or trade, a special locality, 
and so with many objects of modern life." Experience may there- 
fore be said to play the double role of making the individual cog- 
nizant of the value of work in the satisfaction of a need and of 
modifying somewhat fundamental native needs. Needs thus modi- 
fied have been called acquired needs. ^'^ Problems to be vital, 
therefore, must have a very intimate relation to the individual's 
needs as well as to his experience. 

(b) How will the Facts for the Solution of the Problem be Chosen ? 
What is the nature of the facts which will be chosen for the pur- 
pose of arriving at a satisfactory solution of the problem? It has 

^ Dewey, Studies in Logical Theory, pp. 37-40. 
^ Monroe, Encyclopedia of Education, Art. "Apperception." 
1" Bagley, Educative Process, p. 83. 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors 7 

been shown that the condition which impels an individual to or- 
ganize his experience is a problem which has a vital significance to 
him. The problem, as was pointed out, always implies a difficulty, 
a ''gap" in the individual's experience, which must be bridged 
over through reflection, or thought. Through thought such mediat- 
ing facts are selected as will establish a close connection between 
these formerly unrelated elements in the situation and lead to a 
conclusion based upon, and closely dependent upon, the facts so 
related. Now, if, as was just intimated, the facts selected are to 
be used for the purpose of establishing a chain of reasoning in a 
problematic situation, the implication would be that they must 
be definitely related to the problem to be solved and that the facts 
not so related must be rigorously excluded. 

The problem in each case will determine just what facts will be 
essential for the purpose of solving it. Problems differing in any 
degree will require a somewhat different content for solution. The 
writer on zoology who aims to give the reader a systematic knowl- 
edge of the structure of the various organisms composing the animal 
kingdom selects a body of facts somewhat different from those of 
the writer who is especially interested in informing his readers 
concerning the methods to be employed for the effective control of 
certain forms of animal life. Certain facts, such as the relationship 
of a given order or class to other orders and classes, are of great 
significance in the one case but mean very little in the other. Thus 
the gill slits, the notochord, the dorsal nerve chord, and the eye 
developing from the brain, found in the larval Ascidian, are of great 
significance to the zoologist for establishing the true relationship 
of this class of organisms in the animal kingdom; but all the facts 
which might be stated about this class of animals would possess 
little if any value to the man of business. The fact that the early 
stages in the development of the fish, reptiles, chicken, and rabbit 
are quite similar may be of significance to the biologist for his 
purposes, but has no relation to the problems of the author of a 
cookbook or the manager of a meatshop. The several phases of 
psychology illustrate this point. The specific problem of physio- 
logical psychology is to account for the physical basis of mental 
life; its data are selected with this end in mind. Educational psy- 
chology attempts to show the relation of certain phases of general 
psychology to problems of education; its problem is "What can 
psychology offer for the solution of specific educational problems? " 
Child psychology deals with another group of problems and so 



8 Organization of Instruction Materials 

does the psychology of adolescence, each selecting the facts essen- 
tial for that purpose. And so with other phases of psychology. 
Similar illustrations might be given in almost any other field. 
Thus we have political history, economic history, educational his- 
tory of the United States; mathematical geography, physical geog- 
raphy, political geography, commercial and economic geography, 
etc., each having its specific problem and selecting the facts essen- 
tial for its solution and ignoring others not so related. Only those 
facts, therefore, which have a definite relation to the problem and 
are needed for its solution will have any value in that connection. 

Not only must the data used in the solution of a problem be 
relevant, however; they must be of a quality to make possible the 
ready recognition of those relationships which it is the purpose of 
thought to establish. The normal thing to do when confronted 
with a new situation is to interpret it in the Hght of previous, similar 
situations. "Whenever a new way of acting is to be organized," 
says Charters, " (the solving of the problem) experience falls back 
upon old ways with which it is familar and therefore knows how 
to handle. . . , From all this past experience, that which can be 
adapted in reorganization for the new purpose is used." ^^ In 
accordance with this law the individual in his attempt to work out 
the solution of a problem first appeals to his own experience in 
search of facts, principles, or laws, which might possibly enable 
him to solve the difficulty. These facts or principles he attempts 
to evaluate from the point of view of their relationship to the new 
problem. Knowing them in other connections he appreciates more 
readily those phases which make them significant in the new 
situation. 

Often, however, the experience of the individual is not sufiicient 
for the demands made upon it; the facts needed must be obtained 
in some way from outside sources. What facts will an individual 
choose under such conditions? There may be multitudes of facts 
which will suggest the answer, upon which the conclusion may be 
based, and any of these might therefore be selected as a basis for 
it. But a limited number only will be chosen, the choice being again 
effected in accordance with the Law of Apperception; those, namely, 
which have a meaning for the present purpose, whose relationship 
to the problem is most readily detected. Experience functions in 
this respect as it does in the location and definition of the problem; 
here it determines what facts shall be selected, limiting the choice 
" Charters, Methods of Teaching, p. 155. 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors g 

to those which are related to the individual's experience and to the 
problem, and which for that reason have the greatest significance 
to him; all others will be ignored. ^^ 

Relevancy of facts to the problem and a quality to make this 
relevancy most apparent and thinking most effective are the char- 
acteristics of facts usable for problem solution and the resulting 
organization of materials. There remains for discussion the number 
of facts essential for the satisfactory solution of a problem. In 
the solution of any problem the task, as previously indicated, is 
that of finding suitable mediating facts and of arranging them in 
an order appropriate for establishing the solution. How will the 
number of facts to be used in any unit of organization be deter- 
mined? Both the comprehensiveness of the problem and the stage 
of development of the individual engaged in its solution are deter- 
mining factors. Every unit of organization may be considered a 
system and as such must have the necessary number of elements 
to make it complete. The system constructed by Darwin in his 
''Origin of the Species" is very comprehensive and requires a wealth 
of data to establish it because of the magnitude of the problem. 
The very comprehensiveness of the problem suggests numerous 
minor problems each one of which must be considered in detail 
and disposed of in the same careful manner as the main problem 
in order to construct the system, a sound argument in support of 
the contention. Since Darwin's object is not merely to satisfy 
himself with reference to the problem he suggests, but to compel 
acceptance of his conclusion and belief in the soundness of his 
reasoning, he must use extra care to leave not even a small " gap" in 
the chain of reasoning, and, for this reason, supply sufficient data 
to bring this about. Whether the problem be large or small the 
materials introduced must always be sufficient in quantity to con- 
stitute a complete solution. ^^ The relation of the number of data 
needed for the solution of a problem to the development of the 
individual engaged upon it will be discussed in the second chapter. 
Facts then to be valuable in the solution of a problem must be rele- 
vant and must be of a quality to make ready recognition of this 
relevancy possible. The number to be used in the solution of a \ 
problem will depend upon the comprehensiveness of the latter 
and the maturity of the individual. 

12 Dewey, How We Think, p. 199. 

1^ But facts must not be so numerous as to make it impossible for the individual 
to manage them. 



lo Organization of Instruction Materials 

(c) The Arrangement of Facts to Indicate the Solution of a Problem. 
The facts essential to the solution of any problem having been 
chosen, they must be arranged in such an order as to indicate the 
solution. How does the mind proceed in the arrangement of facts 
to indicate the conclusion sought, the relationship to be established? 
For this purpose it will be well to recall certain phases of the psy- 
chology of thinking. Once the problem which gives rise to organi- 
zation has been clearly defined, enough elements in the situation 
may be known to make possible the statement of one or more hy- 
potheses. Each hypothesis must then be tested out by (i) the se- 
lection of certain facts which will be relevant to the plan suggested 
by it, and (2) the arrangement of these facts in such a way as to 
indicate clearly the relation to be established and tentatively pro- 
posed in the hypothesis. An illustration will make this clear. 

In attempting to account for New York's greatness as a trade 
center one might suggest as the possible causes the cosmopolitan 
character of its population, the intelligence and farsightedness 
of its commercial leaders of an earlier day, its favorable location, 
etc. Noting first the character of its population we find that the 
composition of the population of other large cities on the Atlantic 
■ coast is quite similar to that of New York. The same advantages, 
or disadvantages, attaching to this factor would be shared by all. 
This suggestion will therefore be discarded as unsatisfactory. 
Considering next the character of its commercial leaders it may be 
found that while New York has always had some great financiers, 
the same is true of the other cities on the Atlantic coast. And while 
undoubtedly there were farsighted business men who suggested 
the building of the canal and railroads, wharves, etc., such sugges- 
tions were valuable only because the presence of certain physical 
features , such as the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, the East River, 
New York Bay, etc., made them possible. The second suggestion, 
too, must therefore be dropped as inadequate. To test the ade- 
quacy of the third we may ask ourselves what advantages New 
York's location offers over those of the other large Atlantic cities. 
Here we should find that the city has a splendid harbor, direct 
water routes to Europe and South America, and -that it has — and 
always has had — a more favorable connection with the hinterland 
than the other cities. To determine the significance of these factors 
for the problem in hand we ask what advantages arise from them. 
We should thus establish the facts that favorable connection with 
the interior of the country has meant in the past more favorable 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors ii 

connection with the country's raw products and readier access to 
its markets; that water connections equally good as those of other 
cities means access to the raw materials and markets of other 
countries; that a superior harbor means that ships will come to 
New York rather than go elsewhere, especially since in case of New 
York there is the added advantage of better connections with the 
interior of the continent. As a result of such testing of hypotheses, 
or reasoning, a number of minor connections will have been estab- 
lished, or recalled, for each of these above statements is a state- 
ment of a relation valuable in laying the foundation for the final 
relationship to be established, that between New York's location 
and its importance as a trade center. Relations to be established, 
therefore, are foreshadowed by the hypothesis, but come to be 
definitely established only after the selection of relevant facts and 
the development, through reasoning, of such connections between 
these facts as are valuable in determining the conclusion, the final 
connection sought. 

The route which the mind takes in organizing its experiences, 
it will be seen from this account, is a circuitous one. Numerous 
suggestions appear, all of them seemingly satisfactory. But- a 
number of them may lead into blind alleys and must be discarded 
before a satisfactory one will be found. 

The organization resulting in any instance will, of course, depend 
upon the nature of the problem inducing it. Thus the business 
man who is considering how to vote on the tariff question will 
come to see the relation of the tariff to his business. Consciously, 
or unconsciously, his problem becomes, "How will the tariff affect 
my business?" and, as a result, the data chosen in deciding that 
matter will have a close relation to this problem, and their arrange- 
ment will be such as to show the relation of the tariff to his business. 
Quite different may be the organization of facts by the economist 
considering the relation of the tariff to the life of the nation as a 
whole. Not only is there likely to be a much larger number of 
data included in this case, data, too, of a far wider range, but they 
are likely to be so arranged as to lead to a somewhat different 
organization and conclusion. Thus while the business man may 
have decided that for his own interest he must vote for high pro- 
tective tariff the economist may have arrived at the conclusion 
that while a high protective tariff is of benefit to some interests, the 
people of the country in general do not profit from it and ultimately 
they must pay the increased prices due to it. The nature of the 



12 Organization of Instruction Materials 

organization ^* resulting, therefore, will be determined by the 
problem giving rise to it. 

While the interest of both the business man and the economist 
may lie chiefly in the conclusion resulting in each case, it does not 
lie wholly there. As rational beings we wish to justify our con- 
duct, or the ideas on which our conduct is based, and for that 
reason we try to make sure that we shall not only have in our 
possession the final conclusions but the grounds upon which they 
are based. These grounds, however, are merely the facts which 
were selected because of their relevancy to the problem and so 
arranged as to make the conclusion arrived at appear sound or 
rational. Thus the business man will have facts similar to the 
following as grounds for his conclusions and recall them as occasion 
demands. "The X party has a protective tariff plank in its plat- 
form. A protective tariff policy will lead this party, if placed in 
power, to put a tariff upon tools and machinery. Since I am in- 
terested in the manufacture of these things I shall profit from such 
a tariff." The economist might resort to the use of the following 
facts, or assumptions, as the grounds of his conclusion: "A protec- 
tive tariff induces the establishment of a particular industry but does 
not add to the total industry of the country. It has a tendency 
to establish less productive industries in place of more productive 
ones; only when the duty is removed as soon as the industry be- 
comes self-sustaining is economic waste avoided. A protective 
tariff may fail to establish self-sustaining industries and thus cause 
a permanent economic waste. The consumer must finally pay 
the tariff, not the importer. One protective duty may neutralize the 
advantages that domestic producers gain from others. The protec- 
tive tariff does not increase the wealth of a country, does not increase 
permanently the net amount of money received from foreign coun- 
tries, and cannot increase the general rate of wages in a country." ^^ 

Whether such an arrangement of facts or data in any case will 
be called inductive or deductive will depend upon the nature of 
the facts available for the solution of the problem. In the induc- 
tive arrangement specific instances must be selected in sufficient 
number to justify the generalization based upon them. When 
thinking of the basis of the generalization, therefore, we may recall 
the process by which we developed it rather completely, or merely 
in part. In the former instance we should probably think of the 
problem, the hypothesis suggested and accepted in its solution, the 

^* Conclusion and supporting data. ^^ Bullock, Study of Economics. 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors 13 

specific instances selected and arranged in support of the hypothe- 
sis, and the conclusion of a general nature. More commonly, 
however, we think merely of the specific instances upon which the 
conclusion is based. In the deductive arrangement, however, 
the generalization to be used in the solution of the problem has 
been previously established and may be used as a fact in its explana- 
tion. When attempting to recall the grounds of a conclusion de- 
rived by the deductive method, therefore, we think of the prin- 
ciple covering the case. A recall of the complete process of arriv- 
ing at the conclusion in this case would include the problem, the 
explaining principle, the application of the principle to the case 
in hand, and the conclusion. 



4. Is All Organization the Product of Thought? 

Up to the present we have maintained that organization of knowl- 
edge is the product of thought. The question now to be raised very 
briefly is: Is organization of experience invariably the product of 
thought, or does it sometimes result without its intervention? 

It has been pointed out that all thinking, whether day-dream- 
ing or problem-solving involves, (i) a succession of ideational ele- 
ments and (2) a purpose either definitely recognized or vaguely 
felt. Rowe ^® calls organization resulting from activity during which 
the individual is not conscious of any purpose "automatic." He 
points out that there are two ways in which experience comes to be 
organized automatically. These are "(i) a wide range ... of 
instinctive ways with which man is natively equipped, and (2) a 
large class of modified, combined, or selected ways which gradually 
develop according as satisfaction has been gained through their 
chance employment. All imitative tendencies, play tendencies, 
constructive, experimenting, and expressive tendencies, not to 
mention the assignment of meaning to various sense stimuli, and 
thousands of definite impulses to function with involved muscle 
combinations, such as the tendencies to make the eyes focus to- 
gether, or hold the body erect in a sitting posture, all of these are 
automatic tendencies of a natural or instinctive order." All have 
a part in the automatic organization of experience. Under the 
second class, the " acquired automatic ways of organizing experience," 
he suggests as the most important classes "interpretations of and 
adaptations to complex sense experience, the use of the imagina- 
1^ Habit Formation and the Science of Teaching. 



14 Organization of Instruction Materials 

tion in suggesting new truths or new ways of doing things, the 
acceptance of truth or error on authority, the use of reason in crit- 
icising and reenforcing suggestions of the imagination, and various 
subtle feeling and will attitudes of mind favorable in the main to 
bringing experiences into such combinations as to make them of 
increased service." The child's attempts to use his imagination in 
a playful manner, his humorous questions, who made God, what 
keeps the moon from falling, where the rain comes from, his naive 
attempts at explanations, are given as more concrete illustrations 
of this mode of organization of experience. Such organization of 
experience then is the result of native or acquired automatic ten- 
dencies and not the product of thought. 

As a result of this tendency to organize automatically, the indi- 
vidual acquires a considerable number of specific ways of respond- 
ing to certain stimuli, of reacting to certain situations, and a mass 
of information. Each of these responses, however, is an organi- 
zation — a connection of stimulus and response — which has been 
established without regard to any other. Through experiment the 
child has found out that drinking the milk from his dish of break- 
fast food is a more effective mode than eating it with the spoon; 
that eating certain kinds of pie with his spoon is a more successful 
way than using the fork for the purpose. In each case, however, 
his mother informs him that his method of eating is not the method 
of polite society. He accepts the statement of the minister that 
God took his little playmate to heaven because he loved him so 
greatly; and he believes his mother when she says that flies must 
be kept out of the house in order to avoid typhoid fever from which 
his playmate died. From the viewpoint of the educated man such 
organization is chaotic. We have here not one or more systems 
of facts, or experience, into which the various responses, or ideas 
giving rise to them, fit, but instead a mass of uncorrelated experi- 
ence often contradictory in the extreme. 

This body of experience thus acquired, uncorrelated and contra- 
dictory in nature, serves to point out the significance of conscious 
organization. Such experience is a fertile field for problems to 
be solved only through reflection. Through conscious organiza- 
tion experiences become correlated, rationalized, organized into 
systems. Incidentally some modes of behavior will become modi- 
fied, some opinions will be dropped, some facts harmonized. 

In the present discussion conscious organization only will be 
considered. 



Organization: Its Value and Its Factors 15 

5. Conclusions 

Conscious organization has for its object the rationalizing of 
experience, rendering it more available for the investigation of 
specific problems, for the extension of knowledge, for communica- 
tion to others, and for the control of conduct in general. It is 
conditioned by the presence of a purpose or problem of vital im- 
port to the individual organizing. A vital problem is one which 
has a close relation to an individual's experience and to his needs, 
either native or acquired. The purpose, or problem, through sug- 
gestions made for its solution, controls the selection and arrange- 
ment of materials essential to the establishment of the conclusion 
sought. Facts to be of greatest value in the solution of a problem 
and, therefore, in the organization of knowledge, must be of a qual- 
ity to make ready recognition of their relevancy to the problem 
possible. The number of facts to be used in any case will depend 
upon the comprehensiveness of the problem and the maturity of 
the individual. The general relation to be established will be sug- 
gested by the hypothesis and will be fully established through sub- 
sequent reasoning when facts relevant to the problem are arranged 
in such a manner as to determine the conclusion embodying the 
final relation sought. The kind of organization resulting in any 
case will depend upon the nature of the problem giving rise to it. 
Both the conclusion, or ultimate relation sought, and the grounds, 
or supporting data, will be retained more or less fully by the indi- 
vidual organizing. Whether the arrangement of facts in any case 
will be of the inductive or the deductive type will depend upon the 
nature of the facts available for the solution of the problem. 

Organization of experience is not always the product of thought; 
it occurs automatically as well. Conscious organization, however, 
must ultimately step in to the end that correlation, or systematiza- 
tion, of experience may take place. 



CHAPTER TWO 
ORGANIZATION GENETICALLY CONSIDERED 

In the preceding chapter an attempt was made to show how 
an individual consciously organizes the facts of his experience. 
All conscious organization, it was there stated, is performed under 
stress of a purpose or problem. The experiences essential to the 
solution of such a problem are selected and arranged in the light 
of a hypothesis to indicate the solution of the problem, the relation- 
ship in question. While, however, the process of organization al- 
ways takes place under the conditions suggested, and its product is 
always some sort of relationship, there are some differences during 
the several stages of development of an individual which must be 
taken into consideration for the purpose of the present discussion. 
In the present chapter, therefore, we shall show how both the proc- 
ess of organization and its product differ in some respects during 
the several stages of development. 

I. The Problem in the Different Stages of Development 

It was pointed out above that problems, in order to cause or- 
ganization of experience, must be vital and that vital problems 
have a very intimate relation to both the individual's experience 
and his needs. Now if vital problems are an outgrowth of an in- 
dividual's experience it is evident that they must differ greatly in 
the several stages of development of an individual. In his early 
school career the child's experience, both because of its limitations 
in range and its lack of coherence, does not enable him to appreciate 
the significance of probkms which to the adult are vital; the experi- 
ence of the ordinary man for the same reason does not suggest 
as many, nor the kind of, problems within a given field as that of 
the scientist who specializes 'in that field. On the other hand, the 
needs of these different classes likewise differ. The life of the child 
is largely one of action; the desire to do something, to play, to 
construct, to tear apart, but always to act, is dominant. Prob- 
lems which arise in his experience are therefore very largely con- 

i6 



Organization Genetically Considered 17 

cerned with his activities. How can I catch a fish, a butterfly? 
How can I fix my wheelbarrow? How can I make a box, a doll- 
house, a dress, a wagon, a popgun, a book? *How can I make my 
batteries work, build a bridge, a waterfall, fire a bowl, etc., are 
problems illustrating this point. All of them arose in connection 
with the child's activities and around them essential experiences 
were organized. These early problems of the child are practical 
difi&culties, "something to be done or made, or some tangible 
result to be reached." We find such problems in every period of 
life. The needs most keenly appreciated by the laboring man, 
the business man, are those which arise in connection with their 
business activities, their duties in social and civic affairs. Problems 
to appear vital would therefore be an outgrowth of business, civic, 
social, etc., experience, and be based upon the respective needs. 
As Professor Dewey has pointed out, "Intellectual organization 
originates, and for a time grows as an accompaniment of the organi- 
zation of facts required to realize an end (not as a result of a direct 
appeal to thinking power). . . . All people at the outset, and the 
majority of people probably all their lives, attain ordering of thought 
through ordering of action." ^ In the early life of the child, there- 
fore, — and playing a very important part of every stage of the 
elementary school, — the problem related to some of the child's 
activities, the problem of action, must play a leading part in the 
organization of his experiences. 

With the first three or four years of the elementary school period 
the experience of the child grows both in range and in organiza- 
tion. His stock of imagery develops proportionately and the image 
assumes the function of a symbol. "Imagination ceases to be so 
blindly impulsive, and images serve to guide and direct activity 
through a series of steps." The child becomes conscious of the 
distinction between means and end and consequently a rapid 
development in thinking power takes place during the elementary 
school period. The interests of the child remain practical very 
largely. Native tendencies, such as the constructive instinct, the 
instinct of inquiry, of artistic expression, of communication, and 
the acquired interests in occupation of the adults in their environ- 
ment, vocational, civic, moral, religious, etc., are controlling factors 
during this period. "While, of course, we expect to lead the 
child to an appreciation of theoretic values, the dominant practical 
interest makes necessary a point of contact in some concrete situa- 
1 How We Think, p. 41. 



1 8 Organization of Instruction Materials 

tion." ' The problem which assumes significance is the problem 
of the "particular concrete whole," the explanation of a specific 
case, the problem which can be solved by taking into consideration 
the facts bearing upon a particular concrete whole, all of which may 
be observed directly, or may be readily represented by the imagina- 
tion. Why Cincinnati can manufacture furniture in such large 
quantities; why Minneapolis manufactures flour so extensively; 
how our schoolroom may be ventilated; how Burgoyne failed in 
his attempt to separate the New England states from the rest of 
the country: these are illustrations of this type of problem. 

With the beginning of the adolescent period children evince in- 
terest in another type of problem, the problem dealing with uni- 
versal relations, the solution of which involves either the de- 
velopment, or the application of comprehensive generalizations.^ 
The broader outlook upon life during this period, a better organiza- 
tion of his experiences, a more adequate control of the technique 
of thinking make it possible for him to see the importance of these 
more comprehensive problems. But there are also new needs aris- 
ing at this time which play an important part in making this type 
of problem appear vital. "Through the ripening and sudden 
emergence of the sex instinct, the youth is made conscious that 
the period of childhood has come to an end. The emergence of 
the sex factor in consciousness is not merely physical in its signif- 
icance, but even more so social. It emphasizes two things: (i) 
that the individual has come to a period of independence and 
(2) that he is a part of a larger social whole than his own family. 
As a result of the first emphasis, he is likely to rely upon his own 
judgment; as a result of the second his interest is suddenly aroused 
in the larger problems of human life. ... In his new sense of inde- 
pendence and personal responsibility, he is more likely to recon- 
struct his experiences along every line consciously and reflectively. 
He must take account of stock and know where he stands. This, 
together with his broader outlook upon life, makes more emphatic 
his consciousness of the need of fundamental principles and laws. 
Hence there develops a new and keener interest in, and apprecia- 
tion of, great generalizations." ^ While the vital problem during 
this period will be such as to lead to the more fundamental prin- 
ciples and laws of science and the organization of facts around them, 
it is not the problem of pure science which is here referred to. The 

2 Miller, Psychology of Thinking, p. 183. ' Ibid., pp. 185-188. 

4 Ibid., pp. 185-187. 



Organization Genetically Considered 19 

latter presupposes arf experience which in quantity and quahty is 
far beyond that of the period here concerned, and would therefore 
be quite meaningless at this time. The significance in this as in 
the preceding periods is conditioned by its apparent relationship 
to the experience of the individual. 

Ultimately, of course, we reach a stage of development in some 
individuals when the problem most vital to them is the one dealing 
specifically with the interdependence of facts themselves or aiming 
at the development of systems without a consideration of their 
relation to some immediately practical interest. This is the prob- 
lem of the scientist and the philosopher, and is conditioned by ex- 
perience beyond the majority of people. It has for its outcome the 
organization of facts into science and philosophy.^ 

The several types of problems are not intended as a logical classi- 
fication of the conditions under which individuals organize. The 
problem of action is so named from the manner in which it arises. 
It may aim at the solution of a specific difficulty, or at the develop- 
ment of a generalization. It may be solved by the trial and error 
method, by the recall of a certain concrete experience applicable 
to the case, or by the use of a principle or system of knowledge. 
Just what method of solving will be used will depend upon the 
amount and degree of organization of experience available for the 
purpose, and the individual's recognition of its applicability to 
the situation in hand. It is suggested as a type because of its fre- 
quency of appearance in child life. 

The problem of the concrete whole is named after the method 
used in its solution. It may arise in connection with some physical 
activity, and may therefore be a problem of action: or it may be 
of purely intellectual origin. What distinguishes this problem 
from others is the fact that it will be solved by an appeal to the 
elements within a given concrete situation, no explaining principles 
being available for the purpose. 

Problems aiming at the development of generalizations and 
systems are named after the end in view in their solution. The 
former may arise in connection with physical difficulties; the latter 
probably do not. In the solution of these problems a greater amount 
and a higher degree of organization of experience than in the pre- 
ceding type are essential conditions. 

While the several types of problems do not represent a logical 
classification they will enable us to trace the progressive organ- 
5 Dewey, Psychology, p. 232. 



20 Organization of Instruction Materials 

ization of facts in the several stages of the individual's develop- 
ment. 

In the discussion of these several types of problems it has been 
found that experience plays a very important part in indicating 
the nature of the problem and showing its relation to some need. 
This appears evident from the earliest stages. Now in order that 
experience may be instrumental in giving rise to problems at all 
some degree of organization must have taken place. It is evident 
that in the early stages of the child's development such organiza- 
tion could not have been due to conscious effort, but was the re- 
sult of automatic tendencies instead. That experience so organized 
would probably furnish an excellent source of problems was pointed 
out in the preceding chapter. Having been acquired without a 
purpose, and from various sources, it will constitute a fertile field 
for conflicts and a fine opportunity for thought to bring order out of 
chaos. Later in the individual's development consciously organ- 
ized experience will, of course, play its part in supplying problems. 

2. Choice or Materials in Different Periods of 
Development 

(a) Kinds of Materials. Facts or materials to be valuable in the 
solution of problems and, therefore, in the organization of knowl- 
edge, must be of a quality to make ready recognition of relation- 
ships possible, it was pointed out in the first chapter. They must 
be concrete, in other words. Now a fact which appears concrete 
in one stage of development may seem quite abstract in the preceding 
period; whether it will be regarded as concrete or abstract will 
depend wholly upon the individual's experience in a given direction. 
In case of the novice in a given field, or the young child in every 
field, we are dealing with the so-called practical judgment ^ stage 
of organization of experience. The type of material which has 
meaning here is that relating to some specific situation which the 
individual himself has observed and sufficiently analyzed to recog- 
nize its various elements. Thus a boy confronted with the task 
of putting a barrel, too heavy for him to lift, upon a wagon, will 
most likely recall how he has seen somebody else load a heavy 
barrel by the use of planks or skids. This experience is concrete 
and has meaning in the present instance because when observing 
this process he recognized clearly the relation of the use of planks 
^ Hobhouse, Mind in Evolution. 



Organization Genetically Considered 21 

to the loading of the heavy object; it becomes valuable, therefore, 
for use in similar situations. The adult, inexperienced in the use 
of gasoline engines, who is having trouble with the motor of his 
car, is most likely to recall how he succeeded in making it go upon 
a previous occasion, if at that time he recognized clearly, or learned 
subsequently, the significance of his act with reference to the end 
desired. In this stage of development, therefore, the individual 
attempts to recall the essential elements of a previous similar 
experience whose value with regard to the purpose in hand he 
• appreciates. 

With the increase of experience in a given direction and its 
organization into generalizations, or concepts, the latter may be 
used as readily in the organization of new experiences as specific 
facts were originally. The term "trade center," the rule for the 
extraction of the square root, Ohm's Law, etc., appear concrete to 
an individual in this stage because the substratum of specific in- 
stances has made them so. These facts themselves express 
relations, or organization of experience, and are therefore very 
significant in the further organization of knowledge. 

Ultimately whole systems of knowledge may be appealed to for 
the purpose of solving problems, or organizing new facts. Such 
systems again will rest upon the relations developed in the earlier 
periods and could not exist without them. They are concrete, 
therefore, only to those who have the background of experience 
to appreciate the relationships suggested by them. Here the so- 
called facts are comprehensive systems of relations most valuable 
in subsequent organization of knowledge. 

Whether or not an individual can use specific or general facts, 
or systems of knowledge, in the further organization of knowledge 
will depend upon the amount of experience and the degree of its 
organization which he has attained in a given direction. Since a 
person's experience in certain lines may be of the most exhaustive 
sort while in certain other fields it may be very meagre, it is evi- 
dent that the amount and degree of organization in a given field 
will determine the nature of the facts which can be used in the 
further organization of the field. 

The implication of this analysis for the school is clear. Facts of 
a specific nature must be used in the lower grades and in the upper 
grades when experience in a given field is limited. To be usable, 
however, such facts must have a meaning, must have been observed 
with reference to some purpose which made it possible for the in- 



2 2 Organization of Instruction Materials 

dividual to perceive the relation of the fact to certain other facts, or 
of one factor to the other factors in a given situation. This prin- 
ciple has been recognized by the introduction of "home geography," 
biographical history, nature study, and objective arithmetic into 
the elementary course of study. To comply fully with the princi- 
ple, however, there must be observation under stress of some vital 
purpose, study with reference to a significant end. Mere observa- 
tion of objects is quite useless for the purpose of leading to a per- 
ception of relationships. 

In the use of general facts in the organization of knowledge care 
must be taken that such facts are actually within the experience 
of the child. Teachers in general are quite clear upon the signifi- 
cance of the rule and definition in arithmetic and grammar but 
commonly fail to recognize the principle in geography, or hygiene. 
As a consequence children are commonly called upon to use general 
facts in the latter subjects which were never consciously developed 
and so have no meaning for them. Only the most confused thinking 
is possible under such conditions. 

(b) Sources of Materials or Facts. The sources available for 
securing the necessary facts in the solution of problems are of 
several classes. The one most immediately at hand in every situa- 
tion, the individual's experience, has been discussed. The impor- 
tance of its use cannot be overestimated, for only in so far as it is 
used over and over will it come to be thoroughly unified, or system- 
atized. Very frequently, however, previous experience will not 
sufiice and other sources must be found. Such sources we have in 
the material world of objects and in the experience of the race as 
compiled in books or handed down orally. The importance of 
the material world as a source of information has been recognized 
long ago and observation lessons, or object lessons, have been 
suggested as a valuable means of acquainting the children with 
the world about them. The prevalence of the laboratory in the 
higher schools also indicates how valuable this source of informa- 
tion is considered for young people and adults. The point to be 
emphasized in this connection is that when experiences in a given 
direction are lacking, or are very limited, in number, this source 
is the most valuable of all that we may appeal to. It is here that 
relationships to be developed may be actually observed, that a 
certain process comes to be looked upon as a cause of another, and 
a certain change in a situation as an effect of some factor called a 
cause; that characteristics of objects come to be appreciated with 



Organization Genetically Considered 23 

reference to their function. It is for this reason that home geogra- 
phy, nature study, etc., have so great a value in supplying children 
with facts or experiences in their respective fields. Here, again, 
it must be remembered that it is observation with reference to some 
vital purpose or problem that will enable the child to see the re- 
lationships of value, that will make the fact concrete or meaningful. 
The absence of such a purpose will leave the objective world as 
abstract as any group of symbols could possibly be. 

Books constitute another valuable source of data. To obtain 
information concerning the world of things through symbols pre- 
supposes the necessary foundation of experience both with things 
and the symbols representing them. Unless the individual has 
both, so that the symbol readily suggests the real object, the symbol 
is unintelligible to him, it has no meaning. Now symbols may 
designate some specific object or situation in detail, or they may 
present an account in a more general or condensed form. In the 
former case children, who think very largely in concrete imagery, 
are enabled to associate the symbol with the image representing 
the object; they understand. In the latter case where concrete 
imagery cannot be readily resorted to the statement remains mean- 
ingless. Thus books may state in sufficient detail a fact so that a 
child may understand, or they may state the same fact in more 
condensed or abstract form, making it impossible for him to com- 
prehend its meaning. In the former case only will the book be 
worth while as a source of information for the child. The use of 
general facts, or of condensed accounts, in books intended for 
children will be permissible only when there is a basis in children's 
experience for the comprehension of such facts. That text-books 
used with children in the elementary school are often seriously at 
fault in this respect may be shown by the following incident. A 
paragraph appearing in a geography text recently published was 
handed to a professor in a western university with the request to 
explain it. The professor, a doctor of philosophy, replied that he 
could not understand the paragraph and therefore was unable to 
do so. And yet the paragraph was intended for children of the 
fourth and fifth grades in the elementary school. If books are to 
be really worth while as sources of information the facts presented 
must be stated in a manner sufficiently concrete to connect with 
the experiences of those for whom they are intended and so to 
make ready understanding possible. 

(c) Number of Facts in Different Periods. The number of facts 



24 Organization of Instruction Materials 

used by an individual for the solution of a problem, too, will be 
affected by his stage of development. Professor Dewey has pointed 
out that empirical thinking — that of children and untrained 
adults • — is less thorough in its analysis of the problem, less careful 
in tracing connections of materials used for the solution, less expert 
in evaluating them, more likely to be wrong in its conclusions than 
scientific thinking; that it makes a "hurried jump from one con- 
sideration to another, allowing its (our) aversion to mental dis- 
quietude to override the gaps." ^ This implies that the empirical 
thinker when left to himself will not construct a closely reasoned 
answer to the problem before him. Not capable of thoroughly 
analyzing the problem into its elements and following up the infer- 
ences suggested at various stages, he does not require the numerous 
facts or materials which are essential to the scientific thinker.^ Illus- 
trations of this kind of thinking are numerous in the everyday life 
of business, politics, and elsewhere, where fantastic solutions of 
problems, or theories, are advanced which are unsound largely, 
because not all of the "facts in the case" have been considered and 
evaluated. Illustrations of children's characteristics in this re- 
spect are given in the third chapter of this discussion. 

3. Arrangement of Facts in Different Periods 

(a) Stages in the Organization of Knowledge. The relationships 
resulting, the organization established as a result of the solution 
of a problem, will differ in both comprehensiveness and quality 
according to the age of the individual, or his experience in a given 
field. The child will think of his cat as a pet to be played with; a 
pet that can climb a tree, catch mice, land on its feet when thrown 
in the air, swim to the shore when thrown in the water, defend 
itself against the neighbor's dog, etc., and he may know enough 
about the structure and other characteristics of the cat to under- 
stand why it can do some of these things. The relationships here 
suggested are of a functional character and any one of them in- 
volves but a limited number of data. That this is the usual type 
of organization resulting in early childhood is borne out by evi- 
dence from psychologists upon the basis of children's definitions. 

^ How We Think, pp. 80, 145-156. 

* Children cannot manage any considerable number of facts in working over 
a problem. History teachers in the high school even have found that extensive 
use of source materials is impossible because of children's inability to deal with 
large masses of data. 



Organization Genetically Considered 25 

Meumann points out that the following stages of development 
are discernible in children's definitions: (i) the mere repetition 
stage, children merely repeating the term they are asked to define; 
(2) explanation of the term by stating its function; (3) definition 
by attempt to analyze and describe; (4) attempts at actual defini- 
tion. Barnes holds that "young children define things almost 
entirely by their use; at eleven, definition by a larger, more generic 
term is well developed, as is definition by stating the substance of 
which a thing is made, while at fifteen most of the definitions for 
both sexes were by invoking the larger term." Kirkpatrick agrees 
on the whole with these statements but suggests that the larger 
terms which are first used at about the tenth year come to be used 
more accurately during the thirteenth year. Shaw found that 
"use was predominant at all ages and definition by the larger term, 
although it increased with years, was rare." ^ Meumann, comment- 
ing upon the development of the meaning of terms, states that the 
logical capacities of children appear rather meagre, that they have 
no real understanding of the larger terms, that, for this reason, they 
comprehend the classifications of natural science relatively late, 
and that often they include things quite unlike under the same con- 
cept upon the basis of very superficial resemblances.^'' Now since 
children's definitions are an indication of the organization of their 
knowledge, the conclusion stated above will be supported by this 
evidence from psychologists. 

Not only does the organization of children involve but few facts 
and these of a functional significance, however; there is also but 
little interrelation of those facts which in adult experience would 
be causally connected. This is true to so great an extent that 
Professor Dewey characterizes such organization as fragmentary, 
as "an aggregation, not a system of facts." 

In a subsequent period of development the individual will come 
to think of the cat as an organism that can breathe, digest food of 
certain kinds, catch its prey, reproduce, etc., and that for each of 
its functions there is an appropriate organ. Here the idea of the 
cat involves a great many more experiences, no longer of a super- 
ficial sort, and all of them are more or less completely knitted into 
the meaning of the term 'cat.' The 'concept' cat here has become 
much more- completely developed than in the preceding period; 
the specific experiences of the earlier period and additional experi- 
ences since acquired have become interrelated. Rules, principles, 

^ Cited in Hall's Adolescence, II, p. 486. ^° Vorlesungen, I, pp. 377-378. 



26 Organization of Instruction Materials 

general facts of various sorts come to be formed in this stage and 
come to take their part in the child's subsequent thinking. There 
is evidence both in the statements of psychologists cited above and 
in the illustrations of the next chapter that the upper grades of 
the elementary school mark the beginning of the period when this 
degree of organization comes to play a part in the life of the child. 

Finally there comes a stage in the individual's intellectual devel- 
opment when he thinks of the cat not merely as an organism but 
as an organism related to a most comprehensive system of other 
organisms. Thus he will regard the cat, because of certain char- 
acteristics, as a member of the cat family, the genus mammals, 
and the phylum vertebrates. Here again we have a much more 
comprehensive organization and of a much higher order. Now 
the generalizations, or concepts, of the preceding period have be- 
come related into systems of biology, physics, ethics, etc. Such 
systems have been described as a form of organization in which a 
very large number of facts and ideas are arranged as a series of 
premises and conclusions, going by orderly steps from the general 
to the particular.^^ This degree of organization implies that (i) 
generalizations covering certain groups of phenomena have been 
consciously developed; (2) these generalizations are as accurate 
and as comprehensive in range as reflection can make them at the 
present time; (3) consecutive relationships are indicated by the 
use of deductive arrangements of materials, the order best suited 
for the purpose. This degree of organization is reached by com- 
paratively few people and by them only in their special lines of 
endeavor. 

(b) Progress from Lower to Higher Forms of Organization. How 
shall the individual pass from the lower to the higher stages in the 
organization of knowledge? It was shown that the impetus to all 
organization of experience is the problem of vital significance to 
the individual; that with the increase of experience and maturity 
of the individual the problem gradually increased in comprehen- 
siveness and complexity. Now corresponding to the increasing 
complexity of the problem there appears a more thorough inte- 
gration of the facts used in its solution. Thus the early problems 
of the child which he himself answers are very simple, necessarily 
so because the judgment, or abihty to think, available for their 
solution is but feeble at best. The resulting organization of experi- 
ence is equally unsatisfactory, the child usually seizing upon one 
11 Dewey, art. "System," Monroe Cyclopedia of Education. 



Organization Genetically Considered 27 

of the 'numerous elements in a situation only and using that 
for his needs. Since the number of problems with which he deals 
is considerable, the associations are made with numerous points ^^ 
of contact and thus "these various bits of knowledge may lie along- 
side of each other in his mind for a considerable time before any 
necessary relation or connection is established between them." ^^ 
"What shall I feed my cat?" "How does it scratch me?" "How 
can it climb a tree?" etc., may give rise to the judgments "My cat 
likes milk, mice, birds"; "She scratches me with her claws"; etc. 
These facts may all be associated with the cat by the child but may 
be retained by him as so many isolated bits of information wholly 
unrelated among themselves. Later, however, such problems as 
the following arise: "Why does my cat have such ugly teeth and 
sharp claws?" "Why does Cincinnati manufacture shoes, furni- 
ture, pottery, tools and machinery, and pack pork to so great an 
extent?" Here not only will a considerably larger number of facts 
be needed for the solution of the problem than in the former instan- 
ces, but interrelations between the facts used will be established. 
To solve the latter problem we may take the several manufactures 
of Cincinnati and find out the value of each. We may then inquire 
into the reasons why the particular industry has become a success 
here. We shall in this manner discover that Cincinnati manu- 
factures iron goods because iron could formerly be obtained from 
the Great Lakes over the Miami Canal and now by way of the Ohio 
River as well as by rail. Since river transportation is cheaper than 
shipping by rail, the cost of securing the raw materials is not very 
great and the necessary materials are easily brought to Cincinnati. 
Here iron articles of various kinds are manufactured. An abun- 
dance of intelligent labor makes this possible. Because of the 
numerous railroads connecting Cincinnati with all parts of the 
country as well as because of her river connections, she can then 
ship her manufactured products to different parts of the country. 
The packing industry may then be studied. Why has this become 
important? Why does it flourish? Having previously studied the 
farm products of this region, the fact will have been noted that a 
great many hogs are raised in the territory within easy access of 
the city. These are shipped there over the many railroads extend- 
ing out from the city in every direction. In the city the hogs are 
killed and made into hams, bacon, sausages, fresh pork, etc. Later 

12 Automatic organization accomplishes a similar result. 
^^ Lang, p. 46. 



28 Organization of Instruction Materials 

these products are again shipped to different parts of the country 
by rail and by boat. In this manner the more prominent industries 
of the city may be studied. The outcome of such a study would 
be something like the following. The partial summaries might be: 
Cincinnati makes iron goods successfully because she can secure 
both iron and coal quite cheaply by way of the Ohio River, manu- 
facture this iron into articles of various kinds because she has the 
necessary workmen, and send out her manufactured goods to different 
parts of the country because of her many railroads. She has be- 
come an important packing center because hogs are raised in the 
surrounding territory and can readily be carried into the city by 
way of the railroads, where they are manufactured into meat. 
The meat is then shipped by rail and boat to various parts of the 
surrounding country. A considerable portion of it is consumed 
at home, etc. The final conclusion might be: Cincinnati can manu- 
facture machinery, tools, shoes, meat, pottery, etc., because she can 
easily obtain the raw material out of which they are made and the 
necessary coal for power; she has the necessary labor for manufac- 
turing and she can dispose of her products over the many railroads 
which connect her with the different parts of the country. 

Here then, because of the nature of the problem, a considerable 
number of facts is related into a single unit of organization. More- 
over, the facts used in the solution of the problem are shown to 
be related in numerous instances. Thus farming in this region is 
seen to be related to the packing industry, and the farmer is related 
to all of the city's industries as a consumer of her products. The 
river is seen to be of direct use to the city as a highway of com- 
merce. The coal mines of Pennsylvania and West Virginia make 
manufacturing in Cincinnati possible. Clay and lumber in the 
Ohio valley make the manufacture of pottery and furniture possible. 
Cincinnati's excellent industrial schools make possible the train- 
ing of intelhgent workmen for her factories. These are a few of 
the many interrelations of facts established. 

To solve the problem "What enables cities to carry on manu- 
facturing successfully?" is a far more comprehensive task, involv- 
ing the manipulation of a great many more data, their evaluation 
and interpretation, and leading therefore to a much more com- 
prehensive organization than the problem just discussed. Such a 
problem could arise only after various cities have been studied in 
which the reasons assigned for the importance of certain industries 
vary. Thus it may have been found that in some cases the city is 



Organization Genetically Considered 29 

located in the region supplying the raw materials. Birmingham, 
Alabama, and Birmingham, England, are cases in point. In some 
cases cities are far away from the source of raw materials; Trenton, 
N.J., importing clay for its pottery industry from England; Man- 
chester, England, importing cotton from the United States, illus- 
trate this point. Sometimes both raw material and fuel for power 
need to be shipped to the city as is the case with many of the New 
England cities. After these apparently conflicting facts have been 
discovered the problem arises. To solve it the facts already known 
must be harmonized and the tentative conclusion tested in other 
situations. Thus it must be asked. What is the advantage of near- 
ness of raw materials? the answer being, of course, cheapness in 
securing the necessary supplies. Now if it is possible to establish 
the fact that sometimes materials may be carried over long distances 
at small cost — as in case of clay brought to Trenton, N.J., from 
England, — the explaining principle now becomes "raw materials 
must be procurable at a comparatively low cost." Again some 
manufacturing cities are located on waterfalls and obtain their 
power from this source; others are located near the coal fields whence 
they receive their fuel for steam power; a third class is some dis- 
tance from either water power or coal fields and must ship its coal 
some distance; while still others may use electric power. It is 
evident that no one kind of power is essential to manufacturing 
cities, but some power is absolutely essential to run the machinery. 
Here again it will be found that cheapness of power is a desidera- 
tum and that, other things being equal, the cities having cheaper 
power can manufacture goods most economically. In a similar 
manner children may arrive at the other factors essential to the 
success of manufacturing,' the final generalization being that "Suc- 
cessful manufacturing cities must have an abundance of raw mate- 
rials accessible, must have power in some form, must have means 
of transportation, must have markets, must have sufiiciently intel- 
ligent labor and be able to secure the necessary capital to finance 
the undertakings." 

From this account it may be seen that it is by a continuous 
process of reorganization under stress of vital problems becoming 
increasingly comprehensive that the experience of the child comes 
to be organized more and more completely until system finally 
results. 

(c) Relation of the Several Stages of Organization to Each Other. 
From the discussion of the preceding point as well as from the ac- 



30 Organization of Instruction Materials 

count of the manner in which relationships are worked out (Chapter 
I) it must have become evident that each of the successive stages 
in the organization of experience is essential to subsequent ones. 
Thus it was found that automatic organization played a significant 
part in giving rise to certain problems leading to conscious organi- 
zation. The organization of facts resulting from the solution of 
problems of the 'concrete whole' was found to be essential in sug- 
gesting problems having for their purpose the development of gen- 
eralizations, while the organization resulting from the latter type 
of problem will ultimately lead to the most comprehensive form of 
organization of experience, 'system.' Not only do the successive 
products of organization give rise to new purposes or problems, 
however; they also constitute the very materials to be used in the 
further organization of knowledge. Thus the significance of a good 
harbor, of good connections with the natural resources of the coun- 
try, of the ocean as a highway of commerce, must be used in order 
to appreciate the location of New York as the cause of its growth. 
The early experience of the child with the cat is essential to his 
comprehension of the cat as an organism, while the youth's under- 
standing of the cat as an organism is imperative to the man's con- 
ception of this organism as related to other organisms in the animal 
kingdom. To arrive at the higher forms of organization of knowl- 
edge, therefore, the individual must pass through the lower stages. 

3. Conclusions 

1. Problems leading to organization of experience differ in the 
several stages of development. Those prominent in the order 
named are the problem arising in connection with some physical 
activity the problem of the 'concrete whole,' the problem aiming 
at the building up of generalizations or concepts, and the problem 
leading to system. 

2. Organized experience is an essential condition to the setting 
up of purposes, or problems, for further organization. 

3. Materials to be of value in the organization of knowledge must 
differ in the several stages — even within a given stage when the 
amount and organization of experience differs in different fields. 
First-hand experience, accounts of concrete, specific situations, 
general facts and systems of facts and ideas indicate the kinds 
usable and the order in which they will be used. While the indi- 
vidual's experience should be first resorted to, further reorganiza- 



Organization Genetically Considered 31 

tion of knowledge frequently demands the use of other sources. 
The material world offers the best source for the inexperienced and, 
therefore, for children. When books are used they should present 
facts in a manner intelligible to children who are to use them. The 
number of facts usable in any unit of organization will depend upon 
the maturity of the individual. 

4. The degree of organization of knowledge attained differs in 
the several periods. The organization of young children is frag- 
mentary, largely with reference to immediate use, and lacking in 
interrelations. With the beginning of about the grammar grade 
period specific experiences come to be condensed into concepts and 
interrelations are being consciously developed. The ultimate 
stage, that of system, marks the most complete organization of 
knowledge and is characterized by both number of experiences in- 
cluded and completeness of interrelations formed. Progress from 
one stage to another is possible only by continuous reorganization 
of experience under stress of increasingly comprehensive vital prob- 
lems. Each stage is essential as a basis for further progress in that 
it must supply both the purposes, or problems, inducing subse- 
quent organizations, and, in a measure, the materials with which to 
develop them. 



CHAPTER THREE 
ORGANIZATION AS A FACTOR IN CHILD LIFE 

I. How Adults Meet Demand for Organization Recalled 

In the preceding chapters an attempt was made to show how 
the mind organizes its experiences. Adults, it was there said, 
organize under stress of a vital problem. Such problems vary in 
comprehensiveness and in closeness to 'practical' affairs of life, 
but they are always an outgrowth of the individual's experience 
and are intimately related to some need. To solve such a problem 
facts are selected upon the basis of their relevancy to the problem 
and are drawn from (i) the experience of the individual, and (2) 
other sources, in sufficient number to satisfy the individual that the 
problem is satisfactorily solved, the organization complete. The 
mere presence of the facts chosen does not constitute a solution of 
the problem; they must be so arranged as to indicate clearly how 
they contribute to the surmounting of the difiiculty. In case the 
principle necessary for the solution of a problem has not yet been 
established, the inductive arrangement is followed, the selection of 
a sufficient number of representative facts upon which the principle 
in question may be based; when, on the other hand, a problem is 
to be solved and the necessary principle, or principles, are in the 
experience of the individual the deductive arrangement is followed. 
In the latter case the principles may be introduced at once and the 
facts bearing upon the case later, the chief task being to show that 
the present problematic situation is satisfactorily explained by the 
principles stated. The nature of the facts recalled for the purpose 
of solving a problem depends upon the degree of organization of 
experiences which the individual has attained in the given sphere. 
Thus either a single concrete experience, a concept representing 
the essential elements of a number of concrete experiences, or a 
comprehensive system of knowledge vast in extent and compact 
in organization may be resorted to for this purpose. The organi- 
zation of an individual's experience becomes more and more com- 
pact, unified, systematic in so far as problems increasingly complex 
are successfully solved. 

32 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 33 

In the present chapter we shall attempt to show the extent to 
which children conform to the methods of the adult in this respect. 
Is organization a factor in child life? If so, how do children organ- 
ize? Do children conceive problems? How do they arise? What 
is their nature? What is their method of solving them? What is 
the nature of the experiences which they resort to in solving them? 
In what form do they recall their experiences? What is the nature 
of the resulting organization? 

2. Extent to which Children Conform to the Procedure 
OF Adults In Matter of Organization 

(a) Does Organization Play Any Part in the Lives of Children? 

A little boy ^ five years old found out that his grandfather, whom he occa- 
sionally visited, never left the house without his hat on. The reason for his grand- 
father's custom was his extreme baldness. The boy intimated that it would be 
great fun to get his grandfather to go out without his hat; but how to do this was 
the question. He observed that the baker called at the house daily and that the 
grandfather usually was the one to go out to the street to buy the bread. At 
such times he noticed that he must hurry lest the baker drive on. The boy there- 
fore decided that this would be his opportunity. Consequently on a following 
day, when the baker again appeared, grandfather's hat could not be found and 
he had to go out to the street without it. 

Three little girls were seated on a window seat looking out of the window. 
One of them quite accidentally spilt a box of buttons. A boy, D., eight years old, 
who had observed the spilling of the buttons, immediately insisted that P., the 
little girl, pick them up; P., however, refused to do so. How can she be made 
to pick them up? She wants to continue to look out of the window with the other 
girls; he therefore attempts to prevent her from doing so by puUing the shade. 
But this is a matter of indifference to her since her companions also siiffer the same 
punishment, and she tells him so. D. therefore tells the two girls not concerned 
in the difficulty to go to another room to look out. When they do so P. attempts 
to go with them but is headed off by D. She then picks up the buttons and is 
permitted to leave the room. 

A group of about ten children, ^ most of them in the fourth grade, devised a new 
mode of using the playground slide. Instead of going down feet first, according 
to custom, it v/as decided to go down head first. To keep from getting hurt the 
children agreed that the person sliding down should be caught by the one who 
had gone before. No child made the descent before she had assured herself that 
some one was there to catch her. Only once a girl forgot to wait at the foot of 
the slide imtil the next girl came down, but she was promptly recalled by the 
latter. Each girl awaited her turn in great orderliness. 

1 I am indebted to Miss Blanche McDill, of the Teachers CoUege, M-iami Uni- 
versity, for this account. 

2 I am indebted to Miss Anna J. Beiswenger, of the Teachers College, Miami 
University, for this account of the incident. 



34 Organization of Instruction Materials 

These illustrations of children's organization of plans of pro- 
cedure could be duplicated many times; they will suffice, however, 
to show that children, like adults, organize. That their mode 
of organization is quite similar to that followed by adults will be 
shown in the later pages of the chapter. 

(b) Why Do Children Organize? 

The first example above is an illustration of organization during 
the pre-school period. The child here organizes a mode of pro- 
cedure because he wishes to accomplish a certain end which seems 
very much worth while to him. To see the grandfather go out to 
the street bare-headed would be great fun indeed. However, 
while this outcome is eagerly desired, the way to accomplish it is 
not so clear; no ready-made plan is at hand waiting to be carried 
out. The end to be attained, in other words, involves a difficulty 
to be overcome, a problem to be solved. 

Examples two and three are illustrations of organization during 
the school period but in connection with out-of-school affairs. 
Here again practical ends are to be accomplished and in both cases 
they appear worth while. D, knows from previous experience 
that unless he can get some one else to pick up the buttons the task 
will be his; or, possibly, he wishes to punish P. for her carelessness. 
In the case of the girls and the slide a new form of play is to be en- 
joyed; a form, too, quite out of the ordinary and, therefore, all the 
more desirable. In neither case is there an acceptable plan at hand; 
both ends involve problems. In out-of-school life, therefore, 
whether before the beginning of the school period or after, that 
which induces a child to organize experiences consciously is a 
definite, vital problem. 

(c) What Is the Nature of Problems which Impel Organization? 

Both in pre-school life and in out-of-school life during the ele- 
mentary school period the problems appear to be largely those 
relating to some practical interest of the child. How to get Grand- 
father to go out bare-headed, how to get P. to pick up the buttons 
spilt by her, how to use the slide in a new way, all illustrate this 
fact. The problems which arose in connection with the building 
of the boat stated below are also cases in point. This is precisely 
what one should have expected; the most characteristic thing about 
children is their activity, not their tendency toward speculative 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 35 

thought. Their thinking and organizing will therefore be done in 
connection with their activities. 

It is rather difi&cult to get any information worth while upon this 
point from children's work in school. Our school work in most 
places is not so arranged as to take into consideration children's 
native tendencies; if it were we should undoubtedly find that 
children's thinking and organizing in school is done under the same 
conditions as outside of school. Even when children are urged 
to state those problems only which they would really regard worth 
while in connection with a given situation they hesitate to do so 
and frequently mention some which In their previous experience have 
been approved as 'proper.' The problems stated below are there- 
fore problems which children give as worth while for discussion 
when recognizing that they are working under school conditions. 

"Did the boy get his meal back?" and "How did he get it back?" 
were the two problems suggested by a group of second-grade children 
who had been told the story of the Northwind up to the point where 
the boy says, "I will go after the Northwind and make him give 
me back my meal." "Why were the Indians so friendly to Mar- 
quette and Joliet when Boone always had to fight them," was sug- 
gested by a fifth-grade boy when studying Marquette and Joliet's 
explorations after having previously read the story of Boone. 
Upon the basis of the paragraph on Colorado given on pages 62-63 
the following problems were suggested by a fifth grade: "Why do 
people go to Colorado for their health?" "Why do they raise so 
many cattle?" "Why does it rain so much more in Ohio than in 
Colorado? " "How does it come that with so little rainfall and such 
a dry climate, it can raise so many farm products and fruits?" 
"Why do people go sight-seeing to Colorado rather than to other 
states?" 

Having been asked to read the paragraph on Canada on page 64 
and to write down any questions or problems which the paragraph 
suggested to them, or which their knowledge of the subject might 
suggest to them, a seventh grade wrote the following questions: 
"Why do Americans go to Canada thinking they can make more 
money than in their own country? " "What makes so many people 
want to go to Winnipeg? " "Why is Winnipeg located where it is? " 
"Why is Winnipeg a close rival of Minneapolis?" "Why is the 
land between Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario the best 
land in Canada?" "Why is the land just beyond the United 
States boundary north of Minnesota and North Dakota so valuable? " 



36 Organization of Instruction Materials 

"Why do they want to belong to England? (I should think they 
would want to be a free nation.) England was mean to us. Canada 
is large. We fought to be a free nation; it looks as though Canada 
would." "What makes Canada excellent farming country?" 
"Why is the soil rich in certain places and not in others?" "Why 
is the best farming land around the lakes?" "Why has Winnipeg 
grown so large?" Other questions raised by the children without 
the assistance of the paragraph were: "How big is Canada?" 
"What does she manufacture?" "When was Canada founded?" 
"What are some of the large cities?" "Do we trade extensively 
with Canada?" "Will Canada's wealth aid England in the war?" 
"How important is Canada to England?" "In what wind belt 
is Canada?" "Is Canada favorable for farming?" "What con- 
ditions favor wheat-raising in Canada?" "How does Canada 
rank as a manufacturing country?" "How does Canada aid 
England?" 

An examination of these questions reveals the fact that they 
may be classified as fact questions and problem questions; and 
again they may be divided into those suggested by certain type 
questions of the teacher and others original with the pupil. As 
illustrations of fact questions we have the following: "How big is 
Canada?" "What does she manufacture?" " What is the climate 
of Canada?" "What do they do in these cities?" and others. 
As illustrations of problem questions we have, "Will Canada's 
wealth aid England in the war?" "How important is Canada to 
England?" As illustrations of questions previously asked by the 
teacher there are the following: "How important is Canada to 
England?" (A question raised in connection with other colonies 
of Great Britain.) "In what wind belt is Canada?" "What'do 
people of Canada do to make a living?" "What kind of soil has 
Canada?" "Is Canada favorable for farming?" "How does 
Canada rank as a manufacturing country?" The question, "Will 
her wealth aid England in the war?" is illustrative of a question 
original with children and happens to be the only one given by chil- 
dren when no data were supplied. 

The questions which the children asked upon the basis of data 
given were decidedly more worth while from the adult point of view 
than those for which they had to appeal to their knowledge of the 
country. The former were usually problem questions; the latter 
were commonly fact questions. This is not at all surprising when 
one considers that ability to ask good questions implies well-or- 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 37 

ganized knowledge, in the absence of which children resorted to 
certain well-known stock questions to avoid appearing ignorant. 
The questions asked upon the basis of data were very similar to 
those which an adult would think of when reading the same para- 
graphs and which he would think worth while solving. There are 
questions such as, "Why is Colorado good for one's health? " "Why 
can they raise so many cattle?" and "Why do the Americans 
think they can make more money in Canada than in the United 
States?" which seem to have a rather practical significance in adult 
life. Again there are such questions as, "Why does it rain so much 
more in Ohio than in Colorado?" "Why does Canada want to 
belong to England?" etc., which are of a more theoretical nature 
but which because of our geographical and historical knowledge 
and certain interests we regard of sufficient importance to think 
about and which to the children appeared undoubtedly very prac- 
tical. Children in this instance, therefore, indicated problems of a 
possible practical significance in practically every instance as worth 
while suggesting for solution. Is it significant that the only prob- 
lem clearly original with children among the several questions 
stated on Canada without data was a practical one? 

(d) How Do Children's Problems Arise? 

Here again we find a very close resemblance between children 
and adults. The unusual practice of always putting on his hat 
when leaving the house together with the interest in making him 
perform suggested to the little boy in the first example above the 
desirability of making the grandfather leave the house without it. 
A physical difficulty arose when the buttons were spilt, giving rise 
to the problem, How to avoid picking them up, or. How to get 
P. to pick them up. Recognition of the undesirability of the task in 
the light of former experiences suggests the problem in the latter case. 

The following illustrations are taken from school work and will 
show how problems here arise, spontaneously — as in the first 
instance — and how they may be made to arise by appropriate 
arrangement of data. 

"The fifth grade children were reading the story of the discovery of the Missis- 
sippi by Marquette and JoHet. The account told of three different tribes of In- 
dians whom they encountered, the Wild Rice Indians, of the Fox river, the Illinois 
on the west bank of the Mississippi, and the Chickasaws on the Mississippi below 
the mouth of the Ohio. All these Indians were friendly to the explorers. One 
boy T. remarked that he didn't see why all these Indians were friendly to the white 



38 Organization of Instruction Materials 

men and asked for information on this point. Wiien asked what suggested the 
question to him he said, "Well, it doesn't seem possible that they could meet so 
many Indians and have them all friendly. Boone in Kentucky didn't meet any 
friendly Indians. He was always having to fight them." ^ 

A teacher told the story of the Northwind to a group of second grade children 
up to the point where the Northwind takes the meal from the boy three times. 
The boy at this time says, "I will go after the Northwind and make him give me 
back my meal." At this time the teacher asked the children what they wished 
to know most. The children very promptly replied, "Did the boy get his meal 
back?" and, "How did he get it back?" * 

A fifth grade was asked to read the statement concerning Colorado 
given below and to state (i) What problems or questions this ac- 
count suggested that would be of interest to them; (2) what other 
questions or problems they would really be interested in finding 
out about; and (3) how they happened to think of these questions. 

The statement: One of the western states in which people from our section 
have been greatly interested is Colorado. Many have gone there for their health; 
some to establish cattle ranches; others for sight-seeing and play during the 
summer months. 

Colorado is very mountainous, for the state is crossed by the greatest mountain 
range of North America, the Rocky Mountains. The climate is much drier 
than in Ohio; for while Ohio has an average rainfall of about forty inches Colorado's 
ranges from between five and ten inches in the western part to between ten and 
twenty inches for most of the remainder of the state. 

In spite of the limited rainfall, however, Colorado produces many of the neces- 
sary foodstuffs in considerable quantities. 

Thus the principal crops for 1899 and 1909 were raised in the following 
quantities: 









Quantity 


Product 


Amount (igog) 


Value 


(only i8q9) 


Total orchard fruits 


4,565,849 bu. 


$4,651,792 


354,049 bu, 


Apples 


3,559,094 


3,405,442 


257,563 


Peaches and nectarines 


692,000 


764,000 


47,000 


Plums and prunes 


81,000 


81,000 


15,000 


Pears 


132,000 


210,000 


19,000 


Sugar beets 


1,231,712 tons 


6,061,153 


6,656 

Acres in 1909 


Corn 


4,903,304 bu. 


2,573,584 


326,559 


Oats 


7,642,000 


4,177,267 


276,000 


Wheat 


7,225,000 


6,463,000 


340,000 


Barley 


1,889,000 


1,100,753 


71,500 


Beans, peas, flax seed and cane 


seed 334,965 


549,000 


32,878 


Hay and forage 


2,241,000 tons 


17,282,000 


1,285,000 


Cattle of all kinds 


1,158,235 heads 


32,409,653 





Feed bought by farmers (corn, oats, barley, etc.) in 1909 $4,593,000 

Feed sold by farmers (corn, oats, barley, etc.) in 1909 5,010,000 

^ I am indebted to Miss Anna J. Beiswenger for this account. 
* Miss McDill reported this illustration to me. 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 39 

Some of the questions suggested by the children were given on 
page 35; they will not be repeated here. Others were: "Why 
do they raise so many apples and why do they get so much 
money for them?" "Why do farmers buy their feed when they 
can raise it?" "When the people go for play where do they go?" 
"What do people see when they go to see?" "How long does it 
take to go up a mountain and how can you go?" "How does it 
come that the price of the feed sold by the farmers is so much greater 
than the price of the feed bought by them?" "Why has the quan- 
tity of fruits, grain and vegetables grown so since 1899?" "How 
does Colorado raise so much food and crops when there are so many 
mountains?" "Why do people go sight-seeing to Colorado rather 
than to other states?" "Why are people interested in Colorado?" 
"Can they raise all grains and fruits and vegetables on hilly land?" 
" Why did the farmers buy feed? " " How can cattle live with hardly 
any water? " "What does Colorado do with these things? " " Why 
did the farmers sell their feed and then buy more?" 

The following statement regarding Canada was placed before a 
seventh grade with the same request to suggest problems which 
was made of the fifth grade. 

"There is much excellent farming land in Canada. On the peninsula between 
Lakes Erie, Huron, and Ontario, is some of the best land in Canada. Just beyond 
the United States boundary north of Minnesota and North Dakota there is a 
strip of farming land several hundred miles wide. In this section of Canada many 
Americans have settled thinking that they might find better opportunities for 
making money than in their native country. Within less than seventy-five miles 
of the Minnesota boundary Winnipeg, the largest city of Canada west of Toronto, 
is located. It now has a population of about 150,000 and is a close rival of Min- 
neapolis in some respects." 

The questions which the children formulated were stated on page 
36 and need not be repeated here. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that in the life of the child as 
in the life of the adult problems arise when the individual's experi- 
ence is inadequate to meet a new situation which the individual 
feels must be met, or when the different elements of his experience 
appear to be contradictory in nature and so block the way to the 
attainment of some end thought desirable. 

(e) How Do Children Deal with Problems When They Arise? 

A little girl five years old attempted to make a doll dress. She 
proceeded at once to cut the cloth, sew it together, and then to put 



40 Organization of Instruction Materials 

it on, only to find that the dress was too small. To make the dress 
would usually be looked upon as a fairly difficult problem by a more 
experienced person; the little girl seemed to have no appreciation 
of its difficulty. There were no previous measurements, no planning 
of the style of the dress; the whole procedure savored much of the 
method of trial and error. 

In case of the problem of the spilt buttons the procedure is very 
different. In the first place D. appreciates his problem very keenly; 
it means very much to him to escape picking up those buttons. 
In the second place he quickly advances an hypothesis, namely, 
that if P. could be kept from looking out of the window until she 
had been compelled to pick up the buttons she would probably pick 
them up in a very short time. Upon this hypothesis he acts. 
When it fails he modifies his procedure and attains his end. There 
is in this case a very clear conception of the problem, a well-chosen 
plan of solving it, an attempt to try out the plan and to modify 
it sufficiently to attain his end. Here the whole procedure is very 
much in accord with what an adult might have done — at least as 
to form. 

A third illustration is given because of the light it throws upon 
the mode of procedure in the solution of a practical problem by 
boys thirteen and ten years old. 

The problem in this instance was, How to build a boat for use on a nearby- 
creek. The first question arising in connection with the building of the boat 
was how to get plans or instructions. Th., the younger boy, recalled having seen 
the plan of a boat in a magazine. The magazine was looked up and the plan there 
suggested, after some modification, was adopted. The next problem was, How to 
get the money for the material. Each boy had some money. It was decided 
to earn the remainder necessary by mowing lawns. When asked why this kind 
of work was chosen one of the boys replied that this was the only way open — ■ prob- 
ably suggested to them by the fact that other boys were earning money in this 
manner. The next problem which arose was. What kind of lumber to select. 
Here the advice of one of the fathers was asked and accepted. How to make 
the boat, was the next problem. Here the plan was frequently referred to and 
assistance was sought from time to time from the father of the older boy, both 
in the matter of interpreting the plan and executing some of the more difficult 
parts of it. When the carpenter work on the boat was completed it was decided 
that it must also be painted. The treasury was low at this time and economy 
necessary. The boys therefore decided that both hardware stores should be 
consulted on the price of one quart of paint before any purchase was made. In 
this manner five cents was saved. When the boat was completed the problem 
of how to take it to the river arose. A neighbor offered to haul it down but his 
offer was not accepted because it was thought inadvisable to leave the boat at 
the river, which would have to be done in that case. One of the parents then 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 41 

suggested that a two-wheeled cart might be made or purchased for the purpose 
of hauling the boat to and fro. The cart might be hitched to an automobile and 
the labor of pulling it reduced to a minimum. A search for a cart was now in- 
stituted and a very acceptable one found in a very short time. When the owner 
stated the price this proposition was promptly rejected. Before a complete plan 
for the care of the boat had been devised the fourth of July was at hand and the 
parents of the boys had decided upon a picnic at the river to celebrate the day. 
The boys therefore decided to haul the boat to the river upon two coaster wagons. 
While at the river the question arose as to what to do with the boat for the night 
since it could not be taken back very conveniently that evening. This suggested 
the plan of leaving it at the river permanently and of interesting the engineer at 
the pumping station in caring for it. It was thought that a small financial re- 
muneration would accomplish this. It was found, however, that there were three 
engineers at the pumping station during every twenty-four hour period and a 
financial consideration which might interest one would hardly interest three. 
This plan, too, was discarded. Since it had become dark meanwhile it was de- 
cided to hide the boat in the bushes for the night. The following morning the 
boj's decided to fasten it near the pumping station with chain and lock and leave 
it there permanently if this method proved safe. 

In the solution of this problem, or series of problems, the methods 
of the adult are suggested at every step. With the problem before 
them the boys advanced their suggestions for solution, tried them 
out and, rejecting those that failed in some way to meet their situa- 
tion, they accepted the more adequate. They appealed to their 
own experience when devising some mode of raising the necessary 
money for the purchase of the materials and for the final method 
of carrying the boat to the river. When experiences of their own 
were lacking, as, for example, in the choice of the lumber, the plan- 
ning of the form and the details of the construction, they appealed 
to their parents and to printed plans. During the entire, process 
there was also a very definite subordination of the whims of the 
moment to the most satisfactory outcome — the construction of a 
well-built boat. In one respect, however, there was a most de- 
cided difference between the procedure of the boys and that of a 
rational adult. At no point during the process of construction did 
there seem to be any tendency to consider more than the immediate 
next step. The building of the boat, apparently one problem to the 
observer, became in reality a series of problems each of which was 
considered wholly by itself. There was no thought of paint when 
lumber was purchased and consequent disappointment when the 
cost of paint was found to be so great. There was no thought of 
a means of carrying the boat to the river when completed, or of a 
boathouse, or of a chain with which to fasten it until the need for 



42 Organization of Instruction Materials 

these things was actually present. And yet this is exactly what 
one might have expected from boys who lacked wholly, or almost 
wholly, any experience in boat construction and the care of boats. 
In fact, this inability to foresee in full the various minor problems 
that are likely to arise in connection with the solution of a more 
comprehensive one is not at all uncommon with adults and varies 
inversely as the individual's experience in the field concerned. It 
would seem then that there is a close resemblance in methods of 
organization of school age in out-of-school activities and adults ; 
certainly the more refined methods of the adult are foreshadowed 
in the methods of the two boys of the last illustration. Does this 
conclusion seem warranted with reference to the organizing activ- 
ities of children in school work? 

3. How Children Deal with Problems in School 

It is somewhat difficult to secure spontaneous mental reactions 
in school because of the more or less formal nature of the teaching 
process. The problem very often is not as vital as it should be; 
the teacher's method of procedure is such, at times, that it inter- 
feres with the thought processes of pupils. For this reason the 
illustrations and inferences based upon them are probably not as 
instructive or conclusive as those previously given. They probably 
do not represent the children's best efforts, in spite of the fact that 
an attempt was made to arrange conditions as favorable as possible. 

The problem concerning New York stated below was raised in 
class discussion with a group of children belonging to the fifth grade. 
The children were then asked to work out an answer in any way 
they thought they could do this most successfully. As was to be 
expected, the children differed greatly in method of work and in 
the soundness and completeness of the answers which they suc- 
ceeded in working out. The immediate problem before the class was, 
What are the different ways by which people can make a living in 
New York City and which have caused so many people to go there? 
Several of the papers and the teacher's comments are given in full. 

Of the boy who wrote the first paper the teacher observed: 

"H. found the page where the subject (New York City) was discussed, but 
said he didn't see the connection. Later he turned from the book and wrote his 
own ideas, referring to the book later only to corroborate them." ^ 

^ This boy attempted to write on the more comprehensive problem first sug- 
gested by the class, "Why has New York become so large a city." 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 43 

H.'s paper follows: 

"New York has become larger because of the Erie canal. They could bring 
things from the wheat region and they could build flour mills and elevators. (2) 
New York City became large because she has great packing houses for she can 
get meat to dress from the great plains by water or by rail. It would be by rail 
to Chicago and then by way of the Great Lakes and through the Erie canal to 
New York. (3) New York City has grown to be a large city because of Colum- 
bia University. For people would come to go to college. (4) New York City 
has become large because of the good harbor. They can send wheat and meat 
and other things to Europe and New York can receive goods from Europe. (5) 
New York could m.anufacture iron and steel goods, for she could get iron ore 
from the Superior region by way of the Great Lakes to Buffalo and from Buffalo 
to New York by way of the Erie Canal. (6) New York has become a large city 
because she manufactures a great many shoes, for she has a great many tanneries 
where they can tan leather out of hides sent from Europe. New York City makes 
a great many shoes out of the leather that is tanned in the city." 

Of the boy writing the second paper the teacher says: "T. looked 
at the maps showing the distribution of products." His answers 
seem to indicate that they are based chiefly upon product maps. 
The paper follows: 

"People come to New York because they can work in the factories. (2) The 
factories are here because they can get things to manufacture by way of the har- 
bor and big railroads. (3) New York can get iron ore from Duluth by way of 
the Hudson river, then by way of the Erie canal to Lake Erie, then to Duluth by 
way of the Great Lakes. (4) New York can get meat and cattle from the great 
plains. It is first shipped to Chicago by train, then by way of the Great Lakes 
and Erie canal and Hudson river to New York where the cattle are killed and 
dressed. The hides are made into shoes and other leather things. (5) New 
York can get wheat from Minnesota by way of the Great Lakes and the Erie 
canal and Hudson river. In New York it can be made into flour or the wheat 
can be shipped to Europe. New York can get lumber by train to make into 
boards." 

The boy who wrote the third paper depended upon the informa- 
tion which he could glean from the product maps, text, and refer- 
ence books. "He kept looking for pages where he had seen some- 
thing about New York." The paper follows: 

(1) New York has grown to be so large because there are more students coming 
there to the university every year. (2) There are people coming into New York 
for work because there is plenty of work to do and men need work. New York 
can get coal from eastern Pennsylvania, iron ore from the Lake Superior region, 
and limestone from Ohio or Indiana and they need men to run the machines to 
make the iron and steel goods. And she has a good harbor to send the things 
away. (3) The people come to New York to get work at manufacturing iron 
and steel goods. People come to New York to run a dairy farm to help furnish 
New York with milk and cream." 



44 Organization of Instruction Materials 

The teacher of the children summarizes their procedure as fol- 
lows: "The children consulted their geography text-books and in 
four or five instances other books. They consulted product maps 
and physical maps. They recalled previous geographical experi- 
ence and tried to make application (sometimes wrongly). They 
used personal experiences from life outside of school. In some cases 
they thought out the answer." 

In this grade children do not seem to be conscious of the fact 
that their suggestions toward the solution of a problem are merely 
suggestions. At times they put them in phraseology to indicate 
that they do realize this, as, for example, H.'s use of 'could' instead 
of 'do' in two instances. The fact that H. wrote out his answers 
and then consulted the text to verify his statements would seem to 
indicate that he looked upon his statements as being assumptions 
which needed verification. In general, however, children of this 
grade, in so far as tested, seem inclined to offer their suggestions 
as reasons and let the teacher settle the matter. Possibly this may 
be accounted for by the readiness of teachers to indicate immedi- 
ately when an answer has been stated whether it is right or wrong. 
The pupil is thus relieved of all responsibility in the matter. 

The experiences used are of various kinds. There are first cer- 
tain experiences of a local nature which played a part in the answers 
of the children. The home town is affected very much by the 
presence of a university and two colleges. The total school 
population increases the population of the town about fifty per cent. 
Consequently, the children felt that a similar situation must exist in 
New York City where they found a large university located. Again 
the children used their geographical knowledge fairly successfully. 
Up to this time in their course no attempt had been made to formu- 
late definitely the conditions essential to a successful manufacturing 
or trade center. A number of cities had been studied, however, 
in which concrete illustrations of these conditions had been dis- 
cussed in relation to the cities' industries. The children, therefore, 
use very intelligently such concepts as "access to raw materials," 
"good transportation facihties," etc., without calling them by their 
technical terms. The number of data used is disappointingly 
small; this was to be expected in this grade. A considerable num- 
ber of children consulted the text-book and reference books at once 
and were satisfied when they had copied what to them seemed sat- 
isfactory answers. A similar procedure was observed in the seventh 
grade of another school where a similar test was given. Children 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 45 

very generally ignored their experience and threw themselves help- 
lessly upon the text-book, copying answers thought suitable but 
adding nothing from their previous experience. 

Because of the nature of the problem before the class there seemed 
little opportunity to test the pupil's ability to arrange materials.^ 

In order to determine what children would do with a problem 
under the direction of a teacher, the same fifth grade was asked to 
discuss with the writer one of the problems stated by the children 
in connection with the paragraph on Colorado, "Why do the people 
of Colorado raise so much grain and food?" The account of two 
lessons was prepared by a stenographer ; it is slightly abridged in 
places but on the whole represents the procedure fairly accurately. 
As far as possible children were left to their own resources in the 
discussion, the teacher making a suggestion only when awkward 
pauses occurred and the children seemed unable to go on. No 
summaries were called for. 

The account of the lessons. "Why do the people of Colorado raise so much 
grain and food? We tried yesterday to answer this question but did not suc- 
ceed very well. How do people in Colorado manage to raise so much grain, corn, 
sugar beets, etc., when it is so dry there?" 

Th. Because farmers irrigate their fields. Sometimes they have pipes with 
holes in; water runs through drop by drop to the ground. They also dig ditches 
and water runs through them. {This apparently settled the matter for the class.) 

T. Do you wish to ask Th. how you get the water into the pipes? 

C. They would have to have much water for each field. 

H. How do you get all over the field? It would take a good many pipes and 
a lot of holes to let the water out. 

T. Th., did you ever see them do this? 

Th. Down south last summer. They also flood rice fields in the south. Large 
fields are irrigated by use of ditches. 

T. You think in a large field it is best to use ditches? 

Th. Yes. 

T. How would you get enough water? 

Ch. They might have a creek of their own on the farm. 

C. Every one would not have a creek. 

M. They have reservoirs at the foot of the mountains; snow melts and runs 
down into the reservoir and then they get the water from the reservoir. 

T. Does that sound all right? 

C. How would they get enough snow for water in the reservoir? 

M. This water comes from snow caught in the reservoir in the spring. The 
snow melts in the spring. / 

^ The children interpreted the problem to mean that a number of ways of mak- 
ing a living should be enumerated and explained. They do not as yet realize 
that the principles which they use in each case are comprehensive enough to ex- 
plain the problem as a whole. 



46 Organization of Instruction Materials 

C. There is not enough snow to supply reservoir with water. 
Ch. How would the melted snow get into the reservoir? 

M. The snow melts, then flows down the mountain sides into the valleys 
between, and then is caught in the reservoir. 

B. We don't have reservoirs all around the mountains. If they have a creek 
near they use that instead of the reservoir. 

Ch. If the creek is some distance pipe and dig ditches to the farm. 
T. Let us read our geographies and see if this is true. (Children read that M.'s 
statement regarding the reservoir is correct.) 

C. If there was a river in the mountains the snow might melt and go into the 
river. 

T. M.'s statement is true, therefore. How will the water be gotten from the 
reservoir to the farms? 

B. Dig trenches in the mountains. Between the mountains is usually a valley; 
the water runs down into the valley and then into the reservoir at the foot of the 
valley. 

J. There is always a river in the valley. Water flows into the river and then 

down into the reservoir. 

* 
T. The purpose of the reservoir then is to hold water between rains. 

C. What if the reservoir got empty? 

M. There is snow the year round on the mountains; there would always be 
water. 

T. Here is a farm; there is no water at the farm but there is plenty three 
miles away at the reservoir. How shall we get it to the farm? {At suggestion of 
T., children now pass to the sand table. Here mountains, reservoir, valley, river and 
farm lands are represented and children are asked where they woidd prefer to have 
their farm located if they had one. One hoy suggests that he would have a farm on 
both banks of the stream.) 

T. If farm is on both sides of the creek how would you water it? 

B. Dig ditches on either side. 

T. Water runs easiest down the river bed; is it easy to get water onto the 
farm? Will it flow up the sides of the plain? 

■ Chn. No. We can't change river. To send water up hill we would have to 
force it. 

T. We want to water the farm on both sides as far as possible. 

B. Cut in ditch, let water flow through this way {pointing toward slope). 

Ch. Object on account of slope. Ditches might be built around farm. 

T. Think, boys, of a piece of ground with ditches around it; what would be 
the objection to watering the farm this way? 

B. It would take three years to do it; they would be digging ditches all the 
time. It would not pay a farmer to do this; it is too expensive. It would cost 
more than the ground is worth. 

T. We must think of something else, then. 

C. Use pumps and force the water up to certain places in the field into ditches; 
water would then flow from ditches between rows or furrows. 

T. What objection would there be to this plan? 

Ch. Too expensive to pump the water. 

T. The question is how to get the water onto the farm. 

C. The river might be dammed up to raise the water high enough. 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 47 

T. How high would your dam have to be to raise the water high enough for 
farms some distance from the dam? 

Children see that farms near the dam would he flooded while others would have barely 
enough water. Project would be impractical for other reasons. 

T. This then will not work. 

Ch. They could have pipes and let the water run down out of the pipes. Pipes 
might run to wells on farms and they might fill well and then pump it up. 

T. How high would the water rise in the well if brought there from the river 
near by? 

Ch. No higher than the river. 

T. Would this be satisfactory then for irrigating? 

C. No, farmer would have to pump water out of well. 

T. Well, do you have any other suggestions? 

Children, {addressing teacher) What do you say about it? 

B. Pipe water onto farm at high edge, along to farm and into ditches. 
T. This is exactly what is done. {Teacher explains more fully.) 

H. What about other people's water from the river? 

T. How will people over here — farther down the valley — get water? 

C. Shut the gates and let it go to the next field. They could make places to 
shut the water off. Gates could be closed and opened; close some gates and open 
others. 

T. How could water be admitted to each farm? 

B. One gate to large ditch. There is plenty of water for all farmers. 

H. First farm has a sluice made with one opening; opening this it admits 
water to the farm, to furrows between vegetables. When he has all the water 
he needs he closes the water gates. 

Chn. Water would not run high enough to let it run over. Let it run in here 
{shows in sand). He could fix it to lower and bring gate up when he wants to. 

T. Did you ever see such a gate? 

Ch. Yes, at mill; it runs miU and the miller shuts it off when he wants to. 
Have the ditch deep to raise and lower the gate. 

T. Now do you have any questions? {No questions) Farm lands on this side 
are $40 and $50 an acre; over here in the unirrigated parts land is worth $6 an 
acre because people cannot get water. Where then should the main ditch be placed? 

B. We want the ditch on the highest part so that water can run down into the 
fields. 

T. We want every farmer to get as much water as he is entitled to. 

C. If you could raise and lower your gate what difference would that make? 
B. Have enough water for field and then shut it off. 

Chn. Object. One farm might have all the water it needs and the farms below 
■ might not get their share. 

T. How could this be controlled? 

B. Measure water. 

{Teacher then explains the manner of controlling water rights.) 

In this oral discussion children appear more careful in advan- 
cing suggestions. Influenced probably by the teacher's attitude as 
well as by the criticisms of contributions by their classmates they 
appear quite cautious. Judging by the wording of their contribu- 



48 Organization of Instruction Materials 

tions to the discussion there are many hypotheses quite definitely 
suggested as such as there are statements which evidently should 
have been given as hypotheses, but which were stated in the form 
of facts instead. Possibly in some of the latter cases the difficulty 
is one of language rather than of thinking. (2) Children do not 
try out the suggestions made in any thorough manner — not at all 
in some cases. Thus they were perfectly willing to accept the first 
statement of Th. as final. Digging ditches from the river to the 
farms located on higher ground, watering farms by means of a dam, 
watering them by means of wells, etc., would have passed as accept- 
able to them with the sand table before them. Lack of experience 
in this direction is of course one reason for this lack of thorough- 
ness in their thinking. (3) The hypotheses advanced are but limited 
in scope. A principle thoroughly well known to each one of the 
children both from out-of-school experience and from school train- 
ing, that water without the application of force will move only 
from a higher to a lower level, was never thought of, apparently, 
as explaining the entire problem before the class. While it served 
to check the suggestions made from time to time it did not control 
the thinking of the children to any considerable extent. (4) The 
nature of the experience offered in the solution of this problem is 
usually concrete. Irrigation is suggested by Th. because he has 
seen gardens irrigated in the South. The experience with the rice 
field is of the same type. Experiences with creeks and ditches again 
seem to be advanced because of specific instances which children 
have come across, of creeks running through the land and watering, 
not lands, but cattle. Only one child resorts to text-book for in- 
formation. No principle is suggested by the children in their work 
upon this problem. (5) The way to the final solution is extremely 
roundabout. 

The seventh-grade children who suggested the problems on Can- 
ada cited on page 35 of this chapter were requested to select 
any one of the problems and attempt to work out its answer, first 
without aid of any kind, and later with the assistance of text-book, 
reference books, or teacher, as they saw fit. Two of the papers 
written — both without assistance of any kind — are given below. 

D.'s paper: 

"Why has Winnipeg grown so rapidly? I think Winnipeg might grow rapidly 
because she is in a good situation. She might be on a good river where trans- 
portation is good. There might be minerals found around there, such as coal 
and iron which could be manufactured there. There might be good farming land 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 49 

near Winnipeg as there is in the section around her. Winnipeg might be an easy 
city to reach if people from other countries are coming over. It is perhaps a beau- 
tiful city and people would come over for rest and scenery and get to liking it 
and stay. It might be the capital of Canada." 

The part of paper written with the aid of hook : 

"Winnipeg is on a branch of the Albany river where she has good transportation. 
It is the most important farming region in the dominion. Tarr and McM. 162. 
Winnipeg is in the midst of the wheat region. Flour is manufactured there." 

R.'s paper: 

"Why are the people of the United States going to Canada to farm when 
the soil of Minnesota and North Dakota is so well suited to wheat? The 
people who live in the more thickly settled parts of the United States do not 
get the chance to farm. The land in Minnesota and North Dakota is fertile and 
very good for wheat raising but it is also very high priced. 

"The land in Canada is not nearly so well settled as that of Minnesota and North 
Dakota. This makes the land sell much cheaper and still it is a very good land for 
farming. So the people of the United States prefer to buy the land in Canada 
for farming to that of Minnesota and North Dakota." 

There seems to be in both casts a rather clear conception of the 
problems to be worked out. The first part of D.'s paper is a series 
of hypotheses based upon certain principles which have been fre- 
quently applied in connection with the study of other cities. These 
principles are named in some cases, as, for example, "situation," 
"transportation"; in other cases they are implied, as, "there 
might be minerals found around there" evidently has at its basis 
"access to raw materials." There seems to be a definite attempt 
to use experience of a conceptual nature. There is also a fair se- 
quence of hypotheses; location, transportation facilities, natural 
resources, and artificial attractions are suggested in order. In 
the second part of the paper it appears that an attempt is made 
to establish the hypotheses of location, transportation facilities and 
natural resources. 

In the second paper no hypothesis is definitely stated. R. as- 
sumes, however, that "good land probably can be bought at a lower 
price," and bases his argument on this idea. While he assumes 
the principle, "Value of land increases with the increase of popu- 
lation," and uses it in his reasoning, he does not state it as such. 
A conclusion is definitely arrived at and stated. The facts essen- 
tial to the reasoning are well selected and the sequence is good. 
There is, however, no attempt at verification. 

The two papers reproduced are representative of the papers of 



50 -Organization of Instruction Materials 

the class as a whole; they are better than a number of others in 
that the first paper states hypotheses as such more clearly than 
some, and the reasoning of the second paper is more explicit than 
in many of the others. 



4. Conclusions 

1. In the lives of children, as in adult life, conscious organiza- 
tion plays an important part in the attainment of certain ends. 
This is true even for the latter part of the pre-school period. 

2. Children organize to attain ends felt to be worth while. 

3. Problems which impel organization in out-of -school life are 
practical in their nature; in school they are probably as closely 
related to practical life as the subject matter will perm'it. 

4. In the organization of experience children proceed in a manner 
quite similar to that of adults. For 

(a) Children limited in experience and ignorant of method 

copy closely the procedure of an ignorant, untrained adult. 
There is but a dim appreciation of the problem, no tenta- 
tive attitude toward plans of solution. Accomplishing the 
end seems largely a matter of trial and error, in so far as 
there is success. 

(b) With more experience children begin to recognize more 

definitely the problematic elements in a situation and 
suggest plans of solution as such, trying them out and ac- 
cepting such as meet their situation while rejecting those 
that do not. 

(c) Hypotheses advanced are limited in scope due to the lack 

of any comprehensive system of knowledge on part of 
children. A comprehensive problem may break up into 
a series of minor ones, each of which may be solved inde- 
pendently of the rest. 

(d) Hypotheses are commonly stated as reasons in school, es- 

pecially in the lower grades of the elementary school. This 
is probably due to the fact that, owing to the teacher's 
interference, the pupil does not have the same opportunity 
of trying out his suggestions as in out-of-school life. This 
may also be due to the fact that children are not confronted 
with "problems of action"; the means of trying out sugges- 
tions are not at hand. 



Organization as a Factor in Child Life 51 

{e) Facts used in problem solution are likely to be of the concrete, 
specific type in the lower grades and even in the upper 
grades; in fact, wherever experiences in a given direction 
are limited in number. In branches in which the devel- 
opment of concepts has been the definite aim for several 
years, as in the case of geography for example, children 
use such concepts readily in the grammar grades. 

(/■) The number of facts which children use in the solution of a 
problem is likely to be limited. Children seem to lack 
experiences in sufficient number and do not appreciate 
the importance of an abundance of facts in the solution of 
a problem. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

PRESENT PRACTICE IN CURRICULUM-MAKING AS 
TO ORGANIZATION WITH RECOMMENDATIONS OF 
STANDARDS 

The Importance of Organization as an End in the Teaching Process and 
Its Implication for the Organization of Instruction Materials. 

It is evident from the preceding discussion that organization of 
knowledge is the important means for the control of both old and 
new experiences. Organization of the facts within one's experience 
indicates that the relationships obtaining among them have been 
clearly recognized and possibly expressed; that in this manner 
clearness of meaning has been brought about; that the various 
elements in the unit of organization are seen in proper perspective; 
that greater simplicity is attained; that the several elements, 
individually and jointly, have greater force; and that conduct is 
likely to be more efhcient because it has a rational basis. Organiza- 
tion must therefore be an important end in the teaching process. 
This has been pointed out by Welton when he says that "the aim 
of teaching is not to impart facts but to develop systems: facts 
are only of value in so far as they are starting points for such de- 
velopment." ^ And by Creighton when he says that "in order to 
pass from a lower to a higher intellectual point of view, — to be- 
come better educated, in a word, — it is necessary to see the way 
in which the various pieces of our knowledge are connected and 
dependent upon one another." - Professor Dewey laments the 
absence of proper organization of materials from lessons and says 
that "only when relationships are held in view does learning be- 
come more than a miscellaneous scrapbag." ^ Not that organiza- 
tion of facts is an end in itself but rather a tool "in the creation 
and development of new experiences." 

Now if organization of knowledge constitutes so important an 
end in education it is evident that the school must take cognizance 

^ Logical Bases of Education, p. 119. ^ Introductory Logic, p. 320. 

3 How We Think, p. 97. 

52 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 53 

of this fact and so arrange its method of procedure that this end 
can be accomplished. The controlHng principles for this purpose 
were discussed in the preceding chapters. It was there pointed out 
that children as well as adults organize under stress and guidance 
of a purpose or problem of vital import to them. The children 
themselves do the organizing by advancing tentative solutions, or 
hypotheses, which are tried out in the light of data available for 
that purpose, and by the arrangement of those relevant so as to 
indicate whether the proposed solution is the right one or not. 
Progress in the child's education is synonymous with a continuous 
reorganization of experience under stress of increasingly compre- 
hensive vital problems. The school must therefore give the child 
an opportunity to organize, to think through problems which are 
vital to him, and to select and arrange materials so that the resulting 
solution, and the organization necessary to the end, will be his own. 
How shall this be accomplished? Evidently before the pupil can 
formulate the problem the teacher must very often have formu- 
lated it in her own mind and must have thought of the conditions 
which might make it arise. Before the pupil can chose the facts 
essential to its solution the teacher must have made them avail- 
able to him: and before the pupil can arrange them so as to indicate 
the solution sought, the teacher must have foreseen the conclusion 
and must guide the pupil to reach this end. This work, which the 
teacher must do to enable the child to organize successfully, is the 
teacher's organization of instruction materials with reference to 
the needs of the pupil. 

Organization of instruction materials with this end in view be- 
comes increasingly significant the more we look upon the child's 
needs as the important factor in the educative process. And yet 
little attention has been given to it. At present very commonly 
children are admonished to think, but because no provision has been 
made for a situation in which thought appears essential and or- 
ganization imperative to the child no thinking takes place. The 
organization which results is therefore that of the text-book or 
teacher and the pupil's method is memorization, or, at best, an 
attempt to understand sufficiently well for recitation purposes 
what text-book or teacher mean. The teacher of course is at fault 
when she follows such a procedure. But more blameworthy is 
the supervisor who frames the course of study which offers no 
assistance in the organization of instruction materials for teaching 
purposes. The teacher confronted with a task which is frequently 



54 Organization of Instruction Materials 

beyond her ability necessarily continues as she has previously done 
until supervisors, through courses of study, come to her assistance. 

The problem to be discussed in the present chapter is, How should 
courses of study be constructed so as to be of the greatest assistance 
to teachers in their attempts to make instruction materials mean- 
ingful, to secure clearness, perspective, organization of knowledge 
by pupils? Before proceeding with the discussion of that problem, 
however, it may be profitable to inquire to what extent present 
courses of study make provision for organization of knowledge by 
pupils. 

The Extent to which Organization of Instruction Materials for Teaching 
is Regarded as a Problem in Course of Study-Making. 

Twelve representative schools and school systems were requested 
to send to the writer their courses of study and syllabi in subjects 
in which there were any. In this list there were two state systems, 
nine city systems, and one school of observation in a teachers' 
college. That the importance of organized knowledge is recognized 
as an end in education in some systems is indicated by the fact 
that they make specific reference to it. Thus, one course states 
that "too much time is wasted on isolated facts and non-essentials. 
The knowledge of the children is not organized." And again, 
"Details in the elementary study of history should be recognized 
only in so far as they contribute to larger conceptions of noble 
conduct, courageous deeds, and personal achievement, and give 
insight into motives and qualities of character that should be uni- 
versalized, and make clear the principle upon which the everyday 
life of the world is conducted." . . . "All geographic and historic 
material is to be more carefully organized, generalized and co- 
ordinated into relations of cause and effect." ^ . . . "Only the great 
movements in our nation's history should be emphasized while 
the ten thousand isolated facts and unimportant details should be 
ignored." ^ Another course commenting upon the failure of pupils 
to profit from the study of history attributes as the cause the habit 
of memorizing the text-book, and makes the following suggestion: 
"This practice is unprofitable because it calls for no one of the 
three disciplinary processes, — selection of pertinent, and exclu- 
sion of non-pertinent facts; reflection upon facts, and organiza- 
tion of facts by the pupil himself.^ A third course mentions the 
* System No. 4, pp. 46-47. ^ /j,-^_^ p_ gy^ 

^ System No. 1, History Syllabus, p. 28. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 55 

desirability of organization in the following terms: "In the more 
advanced grades, pupils should be led to the classification of geo- 
graphical facts. The child begins geography with details, but as 
his knowledge increases it will be of advantage to lead it to group 
these details into classes or systems of facts. '^ A fourth course 
explaining the purpose of problems in teaching geography states 
that "It should be kept in mind that the purpose is not to make 
final judgments or settle great questions, but simply to give purpose 
and coherence to a series of lessons." ^ A fifth course actually 
attempts some organization of topics, as will be shown later. It 
seems therefore that the importance of organization of facts as an 
end in teaching is recognized in some school systems at least. 

How do present courses of study aid the teacher in attaining 
organization of facts on part of pupils? 

Probably the most effective way to show what is done, as well 
as what is not done, will be to give some illustrations from the 
courses examined. All of them have been taken from the geography 
of Europe; the same country would have been selected in each 
case, but the several courses take different countries as types, 
working out their treatment in some detail, and leave others to be 
worked out by the teacher. 

The first illustration is the geography of Great Britain from 
System No. 4. It is here given in full as is also done in each of the 
other illustrations. 

Geography (using any text) — Teach in detail Great Britain. 

The next illustration is taken from System i. 

BRITISH ISLES 
1. Position. 

(a) Hemisphere. 

(6) Latitude and longitude. 

(Extent found, not memorized.) 
(c) Zone. 

{d) Direction from home and other grand divisions, 
(e) Surrounding waters. 

Note. — The following topics in position apply only to British Isles. 
(/) Central position in reference to the land masses of world, 
(g) Insular. (Position.) 
(1) Many colonies. 

Name and location of most important colonies. 
Note. — Correlate as much as possible with child's knowledge of 
history in regard to exploration and colonization. 

^ System No. 3, Geography, p. 7. ^ System No. 8, Geography, p. 28. 



56 Organization of Instruction Materials 

(2) Large navy. 

Note. — Show reasons for development of large navy in connec- 
tion with the acquisition, maintenance, protection of, and trade 
with, colonies. 

(3) Greatest foreign trade. 

2. Size. 

(a) Of British Isles. Compare with some state of United States. 

(b) Of England. 

(c) Of British Empire (one-fifth of land surface of world) . 

Note. — Distinguish British Empire, British Isles, Great Britain, and 
England. 

3. Shore Line. 

(a) Character. 
(&) Adaptability. 

Note. — Show commercial advantages to England in the fact that 
many of her excellent harbors are opposite each other, 
(c) Groups of islands. 

4. Relief. 

(a) Of Scotland. 

(1) Highlands. 

(2) Lowlands. 

(3) Scenery. 

(b) Of England and Wales. 

(1) Highlands. 

(2) Lowlands. 

Note. — Mention the downs and the moors. 

(3) Scenery. 

Note. — Noted landscape gardens and country districts. 

(c) Of Ireland. 

(1) Highlands. 

(2) Lowlands. 

Note. — Study fertile plains and bogs. 

(3) Scenery. 
Vale of Avoca. 
Giant's Causeway. 

5. Climate. 

(a) Causes inferred from — 

(1) Latitude. 

(2) Elevation. 

(3) Mountains. 

(4) Winds. 

(5) Rainfall. 

(6) Ocean currents or drifts. 

(b) Healthfulness. 

(c) Peculiarities. 

Note. — Call attention to the fact that these climatic conditions 
result in mild winters, cool summers, and almost constant 
rainfall. 



\ 

Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 57 

; . Drainage. 
(o) Rivers. 

(1) Source. 

(2) Course. 

(3) Mouth. 

(4) Navigation. 

Note. — Call attention to the small swift flowing rivers and their 
industrial importance; study large rivers, as Thames, and 
Mersey, whose wide estuaries extend far inland making ocean 
commerce possible for cities in the interior. 

7. Important Cities. 

{a) Of Scotland. 

(1) Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen. 

(2) Location. 

(3) Important facts. 
(J) Of England. 

(1) Name. 

London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, 
Sheffield, HuU, Newcastle, Bristol, and Southampton. 

(2) Location. 

(3) Interesting facts, 
(c) Of Wales. 

(1) Names. 
Cardiff, Merthyr. 

(2) Location. 

(3) Interesting facts. 

{d) Of Ireland. > 

(1) Name. 

Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Queenstown, Armagh, Limerick, Lon- 
donderry. 

(2) Location. 

(3) Interesting facts. 

8. Products and Industries. 

(a) Products (of British Isles). 

(1) Agricultural. 

(2) Mineral. 

(3) Animal. 

(4) Miscellaneous. 

(5) Manufactured. 

{a) Of Scotland. 
{h) Of England, 
(c) Of Ireland. 
{]}) Industries. 

(1) Of Scotland. 

Note. — In connection with study of industries, call attention to 
the hand weaving of the people of the Hebrides. Correlate 
with the study of textiles in the manual training work. 



58 Organization of Instruction Materials 

(2) Of England and Wales. 

Note. — In connection with study of industries call attention to 
the market gardening. 

(3) Of Ireland. 

Note. — In connection with study of industries note the making 
of lace by hand, and the manufacture of fine linens. 

9. Commercial Importance. 

(a) Comparison with the United States. 
(&) Trade. 

(1) Exports (manufactured articles). 

(2) Imports (foodstuffs, raw materials). 

(3) Routes. 

(c) Reasons for development. 

10. People. 

(o) Race. 

(b) Nationality. 

English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh. 

(c) Characteristics. 

(d) Rehgion. 

(e) Government. 

For the other five great powers of Europe use similar topics, and for the remain- 
ing countries select topics needed. 

The following illustration is taken from System No. 8. 

THE THREE MODERN INDUSTRIAL GIANTS: ENGLAND, GERMANY 
AND THE UNITED STATES 

Their common watchword: International trade; imperial power; high degree 
of civilization and culture. 



BRITISH EMPIRE 

Outline 

1. Location and climate of mother country. 

2. Physical features and natural advantages. 

3. Industries. 

4. Cities. \ 

5. Colonies — -Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, British Guiana. Loca- 

tion. How controlled by England. Advantages to both mother country 
and colonies from their mutual relations. 

6. Commercial fleet. 

7. Rivals. 

8. Army and navy. 

9. Future problems : Railways, telegraphs, steamship lines. Education of people 

toward the responsibility of an ever-widening government. Relief of poor 
and needy by education and better training in useful occupations. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 59 

BRITISH EMPIRE 

Suggestive Questions 

1. The location of the British Isles has provided rare opportunity for the devel- 

opment of the nation. If you recognize any restrictions discuss them. What 
are some of the opportunities, or aids, to this development? 
■ {a) Freedom of invasion. 
(&) Nearness or proximity to important markets, 
(c) Long hours of daylight. 
{d) Climate protected from Arctic current. 
(e) Cheap transportation which the sea affords. 
(/) Broken coast line; excellent harbors. 

2. Give a reason or reasons why England, which was once an agricultural country, 

has become the greatest manufacturing and commercial nation of the world. 
(Resources of iron and coal; climate; fine harbors; numerous rivers, and 
its proximity to the sea.) 

3. \^Tiat is Great Britain's chief ambition? (To remain the greatest commercial 

nation in the world.) 
What does the Englishman mean by saying: "The sun never sets on the 
Enghsh flag"? 

4. How does the United States play an important part in the great cotton manu- 

facturing center of Great Britain? How does this center benefit the United 
States as well as itself? 

5. Practically all of Europe lies north of the latitude of Philadelphia, Indianapolis 

and Denver, and its climate as a whole is much more moderate than that 
of North America in corresponding latitude. What causes this marked 
difference? What are the results upon agriculture? 

6. Compare the population of Great Britain with that of the United States as to 

the square mile. Material to feed and clothe this dense population is not 
raised in sufficient quantities in Breat Gritain. In what way are the United 
States of great value to Great Britain in solving this question? 

7. During recent years less grain has been raised in Great Britain than formerly 

and market gardening has increased. Discuss this question, giving reasons 
for the change. 

8. Discuss the difference between the farmer and his relation to the land in Great 

Britain and that of the farmer in the United States. Why has Ireland suf- 
fered from this system? 

9. Compare the western coast of Great Britain as a whole with the eastern coast 

of the United States as a whole, and state what effect the coast of each 

has upon the commerce of that country. 
10. Great Britain is a great colonizer and the comparatively few millions of people 

in the British Isles rule today over millions of square miles of territory and 

hundreds of millions of people. Compare this spirit of colonization with 

that of the United States. 
ll._j_Compare inland navigation of Great Britain with that of the United States. 

Which country has nature assisted more in this direction? In what way 

is man improving conditions in this respect? 
12. Whj'^ do we find stock raising in Great Britain where we do? From what 



6o Organization of Instruction Materials 

country does it import beef? Show why dealers in England are greatly 
interested in the price of cattle which our western states produce? 

13. Why is it desirable for England and the United States to be on friendly terms? 

14. Name several possessions of the British Empire that are well located for modern 

civilization. Those not so well located. 

15. Formerly no country could compare with England in its output of coal and 

iron. Name two formidable rivals that now exist. What does this bring 
about? (Competition.) 

16. Why does England feel the necessity of having so large a navy? (The extent 

and remoteness of her possessions.) Of having so large a merchant marine? 
Next to her colonies, Great Britain's greatest trade is with the" United 
States. How do you account for this? 

17. Does the population, other things being equal, have any influence upon the 

manufacturing of a city? What other elements enter into this question? 

18. Compare the present condition of Australia with its condition when England 

took possession. Discuss the people; mode of life; occupations or what- 
ever you feel enters into this comparison. 

19. At times, such as the coronation of George V, representative people from all 

parts of the British Empire were present. Imagine yourself a visitor at 
that time and give to your friends a description of the appearance of these 
different peoples. Show in what way this pageant might impress the 
• British subjects with the extent and power of their government. 

20. What relation do Canada, Australia, India, New Zealand, Tasmania, the 

Transvaal and Orange River colonies bear to the British Empire? 
(a) What political power does the British Empire exercise over these colonies? 
Discuss some of the most important of these, as to the people and mode 
of life; the climate; products; occupations; imports and exports. 
(&) What country carries on the greatest amount of trade with these colonies? 

Give the reason for this, 
(c) Follow the course of a British merchant vessel sailing from Liverpool to 
Melbourne or Sydney via the Suez Canal. 
Tell at what ports it would be likely to stop. 
What exports would it probably leave? 
What imports would it probably take? 
{d) What do you understand the expression, the Commonwealth of Australia, 

to mean? 
(e) How do they secure their Governor-General? 
(/) Discuss the question of coaling stations for the British Empire. 

(1) Where located? 

(2) How were they secured? 

(3) Why of great advantage to the empire? 

The last illustration is taken from System 12. 

THE NETHERLANDS — A TYPE 

Work in home geography affords a growing interest in the Dutch. We locate 
their country and study them in their home environment. 

Before studying the topics outlined below, class interest is obtained by reading 
selections from "Hans Brinker" and a short description in Carpenter's "Europe," 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 6i 

dealing with the industries of the country. The solution of the discovered prob- 
lem gives a definite purpose for considering physical conditions that are in part 
responsible for the life and industries of the country. 

Problem: "Why is grazing an important industry in The Netherlands?" 
Review: Locate grazing regions studied in United States and Canada. 
Recall conditions favorable for grazing: 

1. Surface generally level. 

2. Climate not suitable for agriculture. 

{a) Rainfall. 

(6) Temperature. 
Location: Political map. 

Surroimding countries and waters: Latitude with reference to 40th 
parallel. Comparison with New York. 
Size: Extent. Comparison. 
Surface: Physical map in Atlas. 

1. The Rhine Basin. Application of study of general surface map, noting 

peculiarities of surface. 

2. Dykes: Their purpose, size, care; stories, pictures. 

3. Dunes: Nature's aid in helping to shut out the sea. Influence of sand and 

prevailing westerlies. 

4. Reclaimed lands. Fitting for use, draining, canals, pumps, windmills. 

Use made of winds. 
Grazing: Application of surface conditions favorable for grazing to reclaimed 

and other sections. Comparison with United States. Among Alps. 
Temperature: Atlas. 

July temperature. Comparison with New York and United States. 

Application of temperature conditions favorable for grazing. 
Rainfall: Atlas. 

Influence of prevailing westerlies. Application and comparison with 

United States. 
Summary: Solution of problem. 

Because of the generally level land, range of temperature, and distribu- 
tion of rainfall, grazing may be carried on in The Netherlands. 
Dairying: Result of grazing. Comparison with United States. Alps. 
Cattle: Kind, number, care, cleanliness, sheds. Comparison with United 

States. Alps. 
Life of the People: Comparison with cowboy life. Life among the Alps. 
Butter and Cheese: The making. Centers of dairying. Markets at home and 

abroad, their location. 
Industry of towns depends upon accessibility of raw products, nearness to 

markets demanding products, ease of transportation. 
Transportation: Routes. Ports from which shipped, Rotterdam, Amsterdam. 

The illustrations offered are representative of courses of study in 
general. There are courses which consist of a list of topics, stating, 
also, in some instances, the pages of the text-book used in the class 
work. Again there are courses which outline in some detail the list 
of sub-topics, indicating logical relationships, and pointing out that 



62 Organization of Instruction Materials 

organization of facts which ought to be obtained after the subject 
has been taught. The third illustration represents a class also 
stating the logical relationships obtaining in the subject matter 
and adding some suggestions, here in the form of problems, which 
are to point out to the teacher effective methods of accomplishing 
the end desired. The last illustration indicates an attempt to point 
out the way by which the teacher may secure organization of 
subject matter on part of the children. It is the only course of the 
twelve used as a basis for this study which goes so far as to suggest 
a problem which pupils appreciate, suggest data to be used in its 
solution, and state the conclusion which children are to draw. 
It is not the purpose of the writer to attempt an adequate criticism 
of any one of these plans at this stage of the discussion. It should 
be said, however, that the first course offers absolutely no aid to 
the teacher; that the second and third are useful chiefly because 
they point out more or less fully — especially in case of the second 
illustration — the final product of study or reflection, but not the 
way to attain it; that the fourth offers some sound suggestions but 
fails to carry the psychology upon which it is based to its logical 
conclusion. A more extended discussion of this point will be 
attempted below. 

The striking fact is that the majority of courses of study seem 
to ignore the problem of organization of materials for the purpose 
of instruction. It is scarcely possible that its importance is not 
recognized in such systems; it is more likely that it is felt to be 
purely a problem of method rightfully belonging to the class teacher. 
This would seem to be indicated by an assignment of work taken 
from a curriculum not included in the twelve made the basis of 
this study, which reads as follows: "Natural Elementary Geog- 
raphy, pp. 87-109. Europe. Select wisely." In this same system, 
we are told, the teacher "must know all there is to be known of 
the country she is teaching. She must be able to separate the im- 
portant from the unimportant. She must not only tell, but she 
must teach. Knowledge, careful discrimination, interesting presen- 
tation are very important in this work." The directions which 
are given to the teachers of this grade and topic are given to the 
teachers of the preceding and following grades as well. The intro- 
ductory statement to this course in geography is quite devoid of any 
specific aims or standards of selection and one wonders how even 
the most capable teachers can "select wisely" under those conditions. 

The problem of organizing a curriculum, that is, the selection 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 63 

and arrangement of instruction materials in such a manner as to 
secure their proper functioning in the development of the child, 
is not the problem of the class teacher alone. To construct a 
curriculum requires a broader knowledge of subject matter and its 
adaptability to the several grades than the class teacher in any 
grade ordinarily has. It requires also a clear conception of social 
and industrial conditions for which the child is to be fitted. There 
is needed further a comprehensive knowledge of the psychology of 
childhood for each of the several periods of development, and of 
the method based upon this psychology. And, finally, there is 
needed a much broader knowledge of life as it is at present, of the 
affairs people are thinking and talking about, of what they are 
doing, etc., than the teacher usually has. Neither class teacher 
nor superintendent alone therefore possesses the necessary quali- 
fications to construct the curriculum; the cooperation of both is 
necessary to produce the best result. 

3. How should Instruction Materials he Organized in Courses of 
Study so as to be of Greatest Assistance to the Teacher in her At- 
tempt to Secure Organization of Subject Matter by the Pupil? 

a. Problems of a Vital Nature must be Provided. 

I. An attempt will now be made to show how courses of study 
should be constructed so as to be of greatest aid to teachers in their 
attempt to make instruction materials meaningful, to bring about 
organization of facts by pupils. First of all, curricula must provide 
the problems of vital significance to the pupil required as the essen- 
tial condition of all thinking. Whether or not the problem to be 
discussed by teachers and pupils shall be a problem of action, or one 
having for its purpose the explanation of a specific instance, or one 
having as its end the development of a general principle, or that 
which attempts the explanation of a situation assuming the pre- 
vious development of the explaining principle, must be decided by 
those in charge of the making of the course of study. 

To provide problems of the right sort two factors must be con- 
sidered at every stage of the child's progress in school, (i) What 
are the needs, both native and acquired, of children, which are 
most available for the educative process? (2) What are their ex- 
periences which lend themselves most readily to suggest to the pupil 
the relation between a certain need and the effort necessary for its 
satisfaction? What, in other words, are the experiences of the 



64 Organization of Instruction Materials 

child which can be utiHzed to make certain tasks or problems ap- 
pear worth while? The native needs of children during the several 
stages of development were briefly stated in Chapter I; these, 
although varying somewhat as to strength and time of appearance, 
are generally available. The acquired .needs, on the other hand, 
differ in different individuals and groups of individuals. While 
grafted upon the primitive or native needs they are determined by 
the environment of the child, the economic, the social, and religious 
status of the parent, and the consequent opportunities, or lack of 
opportunities, for experience in certain directions; his physical 
environment, etc. In the construction of a course of study the 
makers must make a survey of the needs of the children of the 
community concerned and make them the basis for the suggestion 
of problems. 

What are the experiences of the children which lend themselves 
most readily to furnish a setting for the problem and to suggest 
the value of its solution to the pupil? First may be mentioned 
the school experiences of the children. There is always a consider- 
able number of facts in the possession of the children who have 
been in school for some time which may be used in this manner. 
Thus, after the completion of the study of the geography of the 
United States and other countries of the Americas it will have 
been noted that we export cotton, wheat, meat, dairy products, 
and mineral oil to Great Britain; that we import from that country 
cotton goods, wool and woolen goods, tin, manufactured fibres. 
The products interchanged between Great Britain and other Ameri- 
can countries may also be noted. Attention may then be called 
to the kinds of materials which the United States and other American 
countries send to Great Britain and the kinds which that country 
sends to America. It will be noted that we send raw materials for 
manufacturing purposes and foodstuffs largely; that Great Britain 
does not send us foodstuffs but manufactured products. These 
facts suggest two problems for discussion: Why does Great Britain 
import so many foodstuffs? and Why does Great Britain engage 
in manufacturing so extensively? Other problems, the significance 
of which may be shown by appealing to school experiences are: 
Why is fresh air so necessary to our health? Why is exercise in 
the open air so valuable? Why is oxygen so important to the blood? 
To the digestion? How does oxygen keep us warm? How can we 
keep the air in our rooms fresh? ^ Why did the Articles of Con- 
3 Taken from course of System 12. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 65 

federation prove unsatisfactory to the country? How did the 
country secure a new constitution? How will the Federalists suc- 
ceed in their attempt to give the country a stronger government? 

In a similar manner the community experiences of the children 
may be used; what the people of his immediate environment are 
interested in, what they talk about, what they do, very often sug- 
gests to the child the value of experience in certain directions. 
Why is Colorado considered a good location for people suffering 
from tuberculosis of the lungs? Why do some of our western states, 
in spite of their deficient rainfall, succeed in raising much fruit and 
other agricultural products? What kind of men should be elected 
aldermen? Why should the business streets of our village be oiled 
during the summer months? Why should the nominee of the demo- 
cratic rather than the nominee of the republican party have our 
support in the coming election? Such problems as these are fre- 
quently discussed by adults, and children not only are but should 
be interested in them. 

A further source of good problems is the larger environment of 
the pupils, the life of the nation, even of the world, with which he 
comes in contact through the daily press, through magazine litera- 
ture, through lectures and sermons, etc. Should the United States 
continue to uphold the Monroe Doctrine, or has the latter outlived 
its usefulness? Should all the nations of the world be permitted to 
use the Panama Canal on equal terms? Why should the United 
States make a special effort to be on good terms with the nations of 
South America? These are illustrations of the manner in which 
this type of experience may be used in suggesting problems. Be- 
cause of the nature of the source of these problems it is evident that 
they will not constitute a prominent place in the curriculum before 
the grammar grades, that is, before the pupils come in contact with 
these sources. 

Will problems permit the introduction into the curriculum of 
those facts generally looked upon as essential in subjects in which 
thinking and the organization of experience into concepts play an 
important part? If it is granted that the one reason for the intro- 
duction of facts into such subjects is their use in the development 
of concepts the answer is simple: one reason for the introduction 
of problems is that we may have an effective means of controlling 
the selection and arrangement of such facts as are of value in de- 
veloping the concept. On this basis all the essential facts will 
be included and no other facts should find a place in the curriculum. 



66 Organization of Instruction Materials 

Thus the geography of Great Britain is presented in System i 
under the following heads: Position, Size, Shore Line, Relief, 
Climate, Drainage, Important Cities, Products and Industries, 
Commercial Importance, and People. These are the topics which, 
with slight modifications, are usually suggested in courses of study 
and text-books in general. In Chapter V these facts are discussed 
in connection with the problem "Why does Great Britain buy 
wheat, meat, other foodstuffs and cotton of America and pay for 
them with manufactured goods?" The topics usually treated in 
connection with the financial legislation of Congress during the 
first two administrations are 

(1) Tariff. 

(2) Hamilton's Report on Public Debt and Public Credit. 

(a) Funding the debt. 

(b) Assumption of state debts. 

(3) Excise Tax. 

(4) National Bank. 

(5) Protection to Home Industries. 

(6) Whiskey Rebellion. 

In Chapter V these topics are discussed in connection with the 
problem, "How will the Federalists succeed in establishing the 
credit of the new government at home and in European countries?" 
From these illustrations it will be evident that certainly most of 
the topics usually treated will still continue to find a place in the 
curriculum, but that their reason for retention will be their value 
in the solution of problems. That some facts which to the adult 
writer or student appear to be necessary for the sake of complete 
logical system will be omitted will not be a misfortune; children 
will be able to arrive at the complete logical system only by traveling 
the road here indicated. 

Shall one or more than one problem be used in the treatment of 
a topic like the geography of Great Britain? While all the essential 
facts bearing upon a topic may often be discussed in connection 
with one problem, very distinct advantages will arise if they are 
treated in relation to several. Thus, in the first place, since the 
several problems are likely to require the use of data in many in- 
stances identical this procedure will afford an excellent means for 
review and drill. Writers on educational theory insist that an 
effective "review" is a "view from a new position," ^'^ "a re-seeing 
from a dift'erent standpoint." ^^ This the introduction of several 

10 McMurry, Method of the Recitation, p. 177. 

11 Bolton, Principles of Education, p. 555. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 67 

problems makes possible. In the second place, a better organiza- 
tion of facts will result in this manner, the same facts will be seen 
in new relations and thus become more signiiicant.^^ How very- 
important to a real understanding of a topic-complete organization 
of ideas — it is to see it in numerous relations is very clearly shown 
by McMurry.^^ In presenting the geography of Great Britain, 
therefore, while it is possible to teach all the facts usually found in 
the text-books, in relation to the problem "Why does Great Britain 
buy wheat, meat, other foodstuffs, and cotton of America and pay 
for them with manufactured products?" other problems should 
be considered as, e.g.. Why do Americans like to travel in the 
United Kingdom? Why does the United Kingdom maintain so 
large a navy? How does the British government encourage manu- 
facturing? In Chapter V these problems are worked out in some 
detail. 

To what extent may problems be introduced into the elementary 
school curriculum? May we resort to them in every branch of 
study? "The problem is well-nigh universal in every field of human 
endeavor, educational and vocational, for whenever the adjustment 
of thought to fact or of fact to thought is involved, there the prob- 
lem lies close at hand. That it is of supreme educational importance 
in the sciences cannot be doubted; it is equally serviceable in the 
humanities whenever the student should be incited to think. His- 
tory easily resolves itself into a series of problems respecting cause 
and effect. Every literary masterpiece fairly bristles with problems 
psychological, social, ethical, and linguistic. Even the purely 
aesthetic, whose appreciation is usually considered to rest upon 
contemplation alone, is greatly aided by intellectual comprehen- 
sion, which always permits the problem form." ^^ There are prob- 
lems in sufficient number to be found in every branch of study; 
therefore; the task remaining for school authorities is to select and 
formulate desirable ones and so render them available to teacher 
and children. 

Of the curricula investigated two suggest problems in geog- 
raphy,^^ two in physiology ,^^ one in elementary science or nature 
study.^^ In no case are problems suggested in history, arithmetic, 
drawing and music. One reason for this situation may be the fact 

12 Bolton, op. cit., 555. i^ Op. cit., p. 178. 

1^ DeGarmo, Principles of Secondary Education, Processes of Instruction, 
pp. 23-24. 

15 Systems V and XII. " Systems VIII and IX. " System XII. 



68 Organization of Instruction Materials 

that vital problems of a practical nature suggest themselves more 
readily in the three branches first named than in some of the rest. 
It should not be supposed, however, that because problems of an 
immediately practical nature cannot be found, no problems of 
vital interest to children should be looked for. In fact, to the fifth 
grade child struggling with division of decimals, the problem "How 
must I proceed in division of decimals in order to make sure of the 
proper placing of the decimal point in the quotient?" may be of 
extreme significance. The problem "What colors must I mix, and 
in what proportion, to secure a dark brown?" may be vital indeed; 
and the problem "How can I tell the key in which a musical selec- 
tion is written?" may be thoroughly appreciated by children. 
Problems are not equally numerous in all branches of instruction. 
In arithmetic, spelling, music, and drawing we are largely concerned 
with habit formation, learning facts in specific relation only; think- 
ing or reasoning, therefore, plays but a minor part in certain les- 
sons, and problems will not be resorted to. However, where the 
task is the acquisition of new experiences and their organization, 
making them significant, the problem must be introduced; for it is 
the function of the problem to induce thinking, to direct thought in 
certain channels, to lead to organization of experience, to the devel- 
opment of concepts and their application. 

b. The " Setting " of the Problems should be Indicated. 

2. Second, courses of study should indicate the experiences 
which are to be used as a basis, or setting, for the problems to be 
considered. The experience of the pupil, as has previously been 
suggested, must not be interpreted to mean only that which he has 
gained through the pursuit of any one study. This undoubtedly, 
as he progresses through the grades, will come to constitute a con- 
siderable portion of all the experience available for the origination 
of problems. But there is always the knowledge which he has 
acquired in other branches of study closely related to the one in 
question, and very frequently, most important of all, the many 
experiences which he has acquired both in school and out which 
the course of study does not provide for. This latter class of experi- 
ence has been gotten in a more or less incidental manner and is 
likely to have the shortcomings of all chance information. Often 
it will be ill defined, and frequently it will be lacking a rational 
basis. But it is often closely related to the child's life of action, has 
a more or less intimate relation to some native or acquired interest 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 69 

of his, and has for this reason made a more vivid impression upon 
him than much of his school experience. It will, as a result, be 
more responsive when problems are proposed which appear to have 
some relation to it. For this reason this material should be used 
whenever the nature of the problem makes it possible. In accord- 
ance then, with the nature of the problem which is to be raised for 
discussion, the curriculum should indicate: (i) A review of certain 
school experiences; these may be taken from the branch imme- 
diately concerned, or from related branches. (2) A review of pos- 
sible community experiences having a bearing upon the problem. 
(3) A review of experiences obtained from the daily press, magazine 
literature, etc., relating to the larger environment of the child. In 
certain cases also, when sufficient experiences are not yet within 
the possession of the child, provision must be made for them by 
the curriculum. An illustration of this demand upon curricula is 
given below; it is taken from System XII, course in geography: 

Before studying the topics outlined below, class interest is obtained by reading 
selections from "Hans Brinker" and a short description in Carpenter's "Europe," 
dealing with the industries of the country. The solution of the discovered problem 
gives a definite purpose for considering physical conditions that are in part responsi- 
ble for the life and industries of the country. 

Of the curricula investigated problems were suggested by Sys- 
tem XII in some of the branches. Thus in geography we note 
the following among others: How streets, tunnels, and bridges 
knit together the scattered parts of our city; how traffic is accom- 
modated and expedited; how our streets are made safe and attrac- 
tive for city dwellers; ^^ how the activities of the colonizing nations 
of Europe are influencing the primitive peoples with whom they 
come in contact.^^ How do our local dealers get their supplies? 
What is a wholesale market and where is it located? Why can 
certain foods be raised at home and not others? ^'^ Why is the 
United Kingdom the greatest exporter of manufactured goods? Why 
is Russia called "The Land of Silence"? Why should New York 
have so large a foreign population? ^^ Other problems are found 
on pages 28, 32, 35, 39-41 of the course in geography. 

In nature study the following are some of the problems sug- 
gested: How do plants get ready for winter? Why does the rabbit 
make a good pet? How does he take care of himself? What can 
we do to make him happy? ^^ How are spring flowers able to get 
into bloom so quickly? ^^ How does New York get its water supply? 

18 p. 15. i!* p. 16. 20 p_ 21. 21 p. 26. 22 p, 34_ 23 p. 35^ 



70 Organization of Instruction Materials 

How can an airman tell how high in the air he is? How are divers 
able to go below the surface of the water? ^'^ The materials suggested 
for study in Grade 6 are largely stated in problem form while in 
other grades little or no attempt seems to have been made to do 
so. In these two branches only are problems suggested in this 
system. In System VIII problems are suggested in geography 
and in physiology and hygiene. Again no consistent attempt seems 
to have been made to use the problem as a means of securing or- 
ganization of materials in the several branches of the curriculum. 
System IX introduces the problem in the course in physiology and 
hygiene for grades four and five.^^ While the headings of some of 
the topics to be taught are occasionally stated in such a form as 
to suggest problems in the course of history of System I they are 
not actually formulated, the task having been left to the teacher. 
In general, therefore, the task of formulating vital problems around 
which instruction materials might be organized has been omitted 
in the courses of study of the twelve systems used in this study. 
As a direct result of this fact — the neglect of formulating problems 
— authors of courses of study have not deemed it necessary to 
suggest experiences which might be used as a basis or setting for 
such problems. The only exception to this statement is found in 
System XII, "Netherlands." 

c. Data for the Solution of Problems should be Suggested. 

Failing to supply vital problems and thereby depriving teachers 
of standards for the selection of instruction materials, one should 
imagine that courses of study would indicate in some detail the 
facts to be taught. But here again no adequate provision has been 
made to meet the needs of the teacher. 

In the illustrations given above (pp. 3-1 1) the first merely men- 
tions the names of the countries to be taught without indicating 
in any way what facts are to be presented under each. Even the 
references offer no help, for the teacher is given the opportunity 
to "use any text." The task of selecting the materials to be taught 
is here left entirely to the teacher, who, in the absence of any 
standards for selection supplied her by the curriculum, may follow 
either her own inclination or custom in the matter. It is difi&cult 
to see how under these conditions the teaching of Great Britain 
can be anything except the memorization of_those facts which the 

2* p. 43. 25 In edition of 1908-9 but omitted in edition of 1913-14. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 71 

author of the text chosen by the teacher has deemed it wise to 
include. When one considers that different authors stress somewhat 
different points or lines of thought and discuss topics with great 
variation of details, one wonders how there can be any continuity 
in the course in geography of this system, and how a high standard 
of work can be maintained. System VIII has gone a step beyond 
System IV in this matter, for there we find besides the name of 
the country a list of minor topics such as "Location and climate 
of mother country"; "Physical features and natural advantages," 
etc., and while in this particular illustration no details are suggested, 
this is often done with other countries. Thus in the outline on 
France under "Climate" the teacher is directed to teach {a) the 
effect of the prevailing westerlies; {b) the effect of the mountain 
barrier on the east ; (c) to compare the latitude of Paris and Duluth; 
of Havre and Chicago. Under "Manufacturing" the teacher is 
to note that France is fourth in the world and first in textiles; that 
large values in small bulk are the rule, owing to artistic workman- 
ship. Textiles, wine, porcelain, automobiles, mirrors, art goods, 
jewelry, millinery, dresses, gloves, are the products. Further 
indications of the facts to be taught are found in the suggestive 
questions of the syllabus; these, however, merely suggest a certain 
line of thought without indicating definitely the materials to be 
used. The teacher is here again left to her own resources in pro- 
curing most of the materials to be used in the teaching of any topic. 
In the syllabus of System I the general topic "British Isles" is 
given a more complete analysis than in the preceding two illustra- 
tions. The usual sub-topics appear but with additional sub-divi- 
sions. While this outline on the whole is possibly more suggestive 
than either of the preceding it leaves to the teacher the selection 
of the "important or interesting" facts which the children are to 
learn. Whether these shall be literary, or historic, or geographic 
in character, and if the latter, whether the physiographic features 
or the economic shall be stressed, is not indicated. The course of 
study of System XII offers little more assistance in the selection 
of data than that of System I, leaving the task largely to the teacher. 
In the illustration cited, however, the teacher has the advantage 
of a problem which will direct her efforts in certain definite chan- 
nels. In general, throughout the twelve systems studied, topical 
outlines prevail. 

It may be objected that the criticism here made of curricula is 
unfair, that the facts usually taught in connection with certain 



72 Organization of Instruction Materials 

topics are well agreed upon by text-books, and are therefore easily 
supplied by the teacher. But this is by no means the case. While 
there may be a fair agreement among authors on the larger topics 
to be included in the treatment of a given subject there is con- 
siderable diversity of procedure when it comes to the kind and num- 
ber of minor topics and the kind and quantity of details used in their 
development. The following illustrations will make this evident. 
The first two, taken from two popular text-books in geography, 
represent the discussion of "Germany" which each author gives. 
The first is stated in toto ; the second presents merely the marginal 
headings used in the text. 

GERMANY. Germany has rich coal and iron mines, beds of porcelain clay, and 
sand for making glass. The river valleys of this country are famous for their 
wine grapes. Large areas are planted with sugar beets and with cereals. 

This country imports cotton from the United States, wool and flax from Russia 
and Himgary and raw silks from Italy. 

The principal manufactures of Germany are cloth, iron articles, beet sugar, 
glass and porcelain. Large quantities of these articles are sent to the United States. 
Besides cotton our country sends grain, meat, petroleum, and tobacco to Germany, 
— largely through the port of Hamburg. 

Germany ranks second among commercial countries. 

Berlin, the capital, is the third city in size in Europe, and thus ranks next 
to London and Paris. Berlin is a great trade center and the seat of a famous 
university. 

Leipzig has a large university and is noted for book publishing. Munich and 
Dresden have great galleries of painting and sculpture. 

Hamburg, on the tide water of the Elbe, is the leading port on the mainland of 
Europe. Essen is famous for the manufacture of large weapons of war. 

The German Empire consists of many smaller divisions having their own local 
rulers, but all are combined into one empire. The king of Prussia is also emperor 
of the whole German nation. Some of the other divisions of the empire are ruled 
by princes, by dukes or by other titled officials. Germany has large possessions 
in Africa. Part of the island of New Guinea and various smaller islands in the 
Pacific ocean belong to that country. 

Germany is famous for its institutions of learning and for the splendid discipline 
of its army. 

GERMAN EMPIRE 
Position and its advantages. 

Formation of the empire; present area and population. 
Government. 

Why the boundary is so irregular. 
Preparation for defense of the country. 
Surface features. 

L The highlands. 

2. The lowlands. 

3. Drainage. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 73 

Climate. 

1 . Temperature. 

2. Rainfall. 
Lumbering. 

1. Location and extent of the forests. 

2. Care of the forests. 
Agriculture. 

L Its importance. 

2. Farm crops. 

3. Live stock. 
Mining. 
Manufacturing. 

L Its importance. 

2. Leading centers of manufacturing. 

3. Leading kinds of manufacturing. 

(1) Textile and iron goods. 

(2) Lumber and lumber products. 

(3) Beverages. 

(4) Beet sugar. 
Germany's rapid advance. 

L Nature of the advance. 

2. Reasons for it. 

(1) The Government. 

(2) Education. 

(3) Improvement in transportation. 

(4) Establishment of colonies, and interests of German immigrants. 
Principal cities. 

1. Their rapid growth. 

2. Berlin. 

(1) Its location. 

(2) Its importance. 

3. Interior cities near Berlin. 

(1) Leipzig. 

(2) Dresden. 

(3) Chemnitz, Halle, and Magdeburg. 

(4) Breslau. 

4. Munich and Nuremberg. 

5. Seaports. 
6. Cities along the Rhine River. 

(1) Cologne and vicinity. 

(2) Frankfort. 

The Rhine River compared with the Hudson. 

1. In scenery. 

2. In distribution of population along its course. 

While the first text devotes one-half page to the discussion, the 
latter gives ten and a half. Evidently teachers depending largely 
upon the content of the text will receive very different guidance in 
the two cases. 



74 Organization of Instruction Materials 

The last two illustrations are taken from two text-books in history 
both written in 1905. The authors had equal opportunity of know- 
ing the advance movements in history teaching and might conse- 
quently be expected to include the newer topics advocated by 
students of this field. Chapters on colonial life are taken for com- 
parison. The outline which follows is taken from one of the texts 
and names the sub-topics which are treated in the course of the 
eighty pages devoted to the discussion. The topics discussed in 
the second text are starred, and those not included in the first 
outline are added below. While the first text devoted eighty pages 
to the subject, the second gives only twelve. Again teachers de- 
pending upon the text will receive very different guidance in the 
two cases. 

INSTITUTIONAL LIFE IN THE COLONIES 
Introducxory 

I. The FrvTE Institutions. 

1. Their Nature and Scope. 

2. Relation of the Individual to the Five Institutions. 

3. Importance of Their Study. 

II. TopoGEAPHY. Climate and Soil. 

1. Their General Effect on Institutional Life. 

2. Their Condition in the New England and Southern Colonies. 

3. Their Condition in the Middle Colonies. 

4. Their Relation to Slavery and the Results. 

INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS 

I. Commercial Industries. 

1. The Southern Colonies. 

(a) Products. 

*(1) Tobacco. 

*(2) Rice, Indigo, and Cotton. 
(3) Other Products. 

(b) Plantations. 

(1) Relation to Growth of Cities and Manufactures. 

(2) Relation to Growth of Slavery. 

Topic from second text: When the Great Ship came to the 
Planter's Door. 

2. New England. 

(a) Occupations. 

*(1) Farming: Relation to Topography, Climate and Soil. 

*(2) Manufactures — very briefly. 

*(3) The Fish Industry: Trade and Commerce. 

(b) Relation of Physical Conditions to Slavery. 

3. The Middle Colonies. 

(a) Occupations. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making ' 75 

*(1) Agriculture: Relation to Topography, Climate, and Soil. 
*(2) Manufactures: Opposition of England. 
*(3) Trade and Commerce. 
(&) Relation of Industrial Conditions to the Growth of Slavery. 

Topics from second text: Smuggling and Piracy, Means of Travel. 
4. Conclusions as to Influence of Topography, Climate and Soil. 

II. Professional Life. 

1. The Ministry. 

(a) The Ministry of New England. 

(&) The Ministry of the Middle Colonies. 

(c) The Ministry of the South. 

2. Medicine. 

3. Law. 

SOCIAL CONDITIONS 

I. The Southern Colonies. 
*1. Population: Classes of Society, 
(a) The Negro Slave. 
(&) Indented White Servants, 
(c) The Middle and Upper Classes. 

2. Life on the Plantations. 

*3. Fashion among the Upper Classes. 
*4. Amusements. 

Topic from second text: Governor's Reception at Williamsburg. 

11. The Middle Colonies. 
*\. Classes of Society. 

(a) Slaves. 

{h) Indented Servants. 

(c) The Middle and Upper Classes. 
*2. The Manors of the Hudson and the Mohawk. 

3. Dress, Amusements, and Social Life. 

(a) In the Country and Small Towns. 
{h) In New York and Philadelphia. 
Topics from second text: Colonial Houses, Furniture and Light, Training 
Day and Rifle Practice. 



GOVERNMENT 
I. Local Government. 

1. Introductory. 

{a) Divisions of Government. 

{h) Harmony of Laws: Changes and Improvements. 

2. The County, Township, and Parish. 

(a) The County at the Present Time: its Powers and Duties. 

(&) Importance of the County in the Colonies: Growth of its Powers. 

(1) The County in New England: The Township. 

(2) The County in South Carolina, the Parish and District. 



76 Organization of Instruction Materials 

(3) The County of Virginia. 

(4) The County in the Middle Colonies. 
3. Colonial Influence on Local Government. 

(a) Result in Different Sections. 

(b) Growth of the Principle of Township Government. 

II. State and Colonial Government. 

1. State Government. 

(a) Relation to National and Local Government. 

(b) Departments of Government. 

(1) Legislative Department. 

(2) Executive Department. 

(3) Judicial Department. 

(c) In What Respects State, National, and Local Government Differ. 

2. Colonial Government: Mode of Treatment. 

(a) Departments. 

(1) Legislative Department. 

(2) Executive Department: Classes of Colonial Government. 

(3) Judicial Department. 

(b) The National Authority. 

(c) Relation to Present State Government. 

RELIGION 

I. Religious Liberty at the Present Time. 

II. Religious Persecution in Europe. 

III. Religious Persecution in the Colonies. 

IV. Causes of Religious Persecution. 

V. Growth of Religious Liberty in the United States. 

Topics from second text: Colonial Church Ways, Severe Punishments. 
Witchcraft. 

EDUCATION 

I. Comparison of Colonial Schools with those of the Present Time. 
II. Conditions of Schools in England. 

III. The Southern Colonies. 
*1. Work of the Ministers. 

2. Effect of Plantation Life: Opposition of Royal Governors. 

3. Schools: College of William and Mary. 

IV. New England. 

1. Influence of the Puritan Church and its Ministers. 

2. First Law establishing Public Schools: Influence of Church on Legislation. 

3. Elementary Education in New England. 
*4. Colleges. 

V. The Middle Colonies. 
*L New York and New Jersey. 

*2. Pennsylvania and Delaware: Influence of Franklin on Education. 
*3. Colleges. 

Topics from second text: Libraries, Newspapers. 



% 

Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 77 

Evidently the mere statement of the topic in curricula is therefore 
not sufficient to insure the teaching of specific facts whether such 
facts are looked upon as having an intrinsic value, or are intended 
to be used for the development of a generalization, or are the general 
facts, or concepts themselves. To state merely the topics, as was 
seen above, leaves the teacher very much at sea as to the content 
to be taught; certainly when the problems essential in the selection 
of materials are lacking, courses of study should indicate in some 
detail, just what facts, individual and general, are to be included. 

However, even when the curriculum indicates a series of prob- 
lems this will be found essential. For vital problems will often 
deal with current issues, or at least comparatively recent issues, 
for the treatment of which teachers will be required to go outside 
of the text. Text-books are not generally written with such prob- 
lems as a basis and must necessarily fail to supply some of the data 
required for the purpose. It therefore becomes the teacher's task 
to look elsewhere. Thus it will become necessary to consult general 
and special reference works, special treatises, magazine literature, 
the daily press; in fact, in some cases — home geography, for ex- 
ample, the facts desired are not to be found in printed form and 
must be obtained by personal interviews and correspondence. 
Unless courses of study perform this task for the teachers it is likely 
to remain undone, for teachers generally have neither the time, 
the ability, nor the inclination to do it. 

Even when all the information needed is found in the text-book, 
the latter cannot be followed page by page. The author of a text- 
book very often is interested chiefly in the systematic development 
of the subject under consideration and arranges his facts accord- 
ingly, while the solution of a problem is very likely to require data 
from the various parts of the subject. Often as in geography and 
history, the appendix supplies some of the most essential facts. 
Here again the course of study may be of real service to the teacher 
by at least stating the references to facts necessary for the given 
problem. Children's experiences should be utilized to as great 
extent as possible in the solution of problems. As far as these 
experiences are indicated by the course of study at least, makers of 
the latter should have a better knowledge of them than the class 
teacher whose perspective is very often limited to the work of one 
grade. The curriculum should therefore indicate in connection 
with each problem just what old experiences are available for its 
solution. 



78 Organization of Instruction Materials 

To be of real service to the teacher in directing the pupil's search 
for facts relevant to the solution of problems courses of study should 
indicate fully the facts most available for that purpose, whether such 
facts are already known to the children, or are to be found in text- 
books or reference books, or are to be obtained from other sources. 

Form in which Relevant Facts Should Appear in the Course 
of Study 

Several plans are feasible: (i) The facts may be actually stated 
in considerable detail, as is now the custom in some systems when 
the newer branches are under consideration, or when the newer 
topics of old branches are outlined. ^^ In some cases, for example 
in home geography and local history, where printed matter is not 
available, it would probably be the most economical procedure for 
the curriculum to state in some detail the facts to be used by the 
teacher in connection with each problem. It will probably prove 
more practicable, however, in many cases merely to state the 
references to the proper sources, as this will materially reduce the 
bulk of the curriculum. In the latter case, provision should be 
made by the school authorities to have these reference books avail- 
able to the teachers. 

Such Facts Must he Suited to Capacities of Children 

Whatever facts are provided by the curriculum should be suited 
to the capacities of the children for whom they are intended. As 
has been previously suggested, old experiences should be utilized 
whenever possible. Organization of knowledge can result only to 
the extent to which previous experience is applied; specific in- 
stances frequently are of value in the development of generaliza- 
tions, while the concepts already established acquire wider meaning 
through application — • through the association of other specific 
instances with the concept. Objective and graphic illustrations 
should be indicated whenever necessary to supply sufficiently con- 
crete data; excursions and experiments should be planned for the 
same reason. 

2^ Thus System VII devotes eight and one-half pages to the syllabus in Language 
and Grammar for the elementary school but gives over fifty to eighth grade cook- 
ery. System X allows about three pages to the physiology of the bones and muscles, 
organs of excretion, organs of feeling and willing, alcoholic drinks and narcotics, 
contagious diseases, and what to do in emergencies, but devotes about ten pages 
to questions of hygiene. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 79 

Facts Must be Supplied in Sufficient Number 

Not only should courses of study indicate the facts to be used in 
solving problems of the right sort and make sure of their suita- 
bility to the children, but they must also supply such facts in suf- 
ficient number to enable children to arrive at a conclusion which, 
because of the number and quality of facts adduced in its support, 
seems thoroughly sound. Thus the comprehensiveness of the 
problem must be carefully evaluated. It must be asked, "What 
aspects has this problem which should be discussed in order to 
arrive at a sound conclusion? " Likewise, "What aspects can chil- 
dren comprehend?" Again the importance of the problem from 
society's point of view must be taken into consideration and data 
massed in order to make the conclusion as striking as possible. 
Finally, the attitude of the children themselves toward a certain 
problem and its suggested conclusion should be taken into consid- 
eration. Truths from history displeasing because of sectional bias; 
truths taught in literature objected to on narrowly sectarian grounds 
or other prejudice, must be based upon such a wealth of facts that 
the conclusion will seem inevitable. 

Conclusions Should be Stated 

Courses of study should further indicate the relationships which 
will be the outcome of intelligent problem solution. As has been 
shown in the previous chapter, problems are introduced for the 
sake of inducing thinking upon certain materials in order that 
effective organization of experiences, or facts, may result. The 
conclusion in each case should exhibit in as clear a form as possible 
the relations developed. Depending upon the nature of the prob- 
lem it will at times be stated in the form of a summary; again, it 
will be stated in a single sentence expressing a causal connection, 
a definition, or other generalizations. In this manner teachers 
will be made more conscious of the outcome of their teaching; they 
will be informed as to just what particular relation is to be estab- 
lished, what concept developed. As a result the conclusion is the 
more likely to be stressed in their teaching and so rendered available 
in the further thinking of the pupils. 

To What Extent Do Courses of Study Meet These Standards ? 

It is of course impossible to judge courses of study in general 
by the standards here set forth. In most cases, as has been previ- 



8o Organization of Instruction Materials -^ 

ously stated, no problems are given and consequently standards 
for judging the relevancy of facts are lacking. For the same reason 
it is impossible to determine whether facts are supplied in sufficient 
number; neither could conclusions be indicated where none are 
expected. In one instance, however,^^ both the problem and facts 
are given. The data supplied are indicated by topic only, which 
may be sufhcient for the teaching force of this system; in school 
systems in general more detailed statements or references should 
be resorted to. Some of the data supplied, however, have no 
direct relation to the problem; these are added to the outline after 
the conclusion has been stated with the preceding facts as a basis. 
It would have been better if these facts could have been introduced 
in connection with a new problem. "Why the Dutch excel in the 
making of butter and cheese"; "Why the Dutch manufacture such 
large quantities of butter and cheese, having such a limited area 
for pasture," etc., are problems which could have been used for 
the purpose of introducing such topics as kind, number, care of 
cattle; methods of feeding and utilizing lands for this purpose; 
quality of butter and cheese manufactured; desirabihty of the 
product at home and abroad; markets, both home and foreign, 
to which products are shipped; transportation routes making ship- 
ments easy and rapid. 

4. How Courses of Study Should Arrange Instruction Materials 

With the suggestion of appropriate problems and the data neces- 
sary for their solution, curricula have performed two tasks of im- 
portance for the organization of the pupil's knowledge. A third 
task remains. It was pointed out in Chapter I that the arrange- 
ment of facts plays a most important part in securing clearness, 
perspective, and force, in fact, that the arrangement of appropriate 
data is what gives them meaning in any given instance. What can 
curricula contribute to aid the teacher in presenting the facts chosen 
in an order conducive to the ends desired? Here it would seem that 
curricula might offer an arrangement of the materials of instruc- 
tion corresponding to the thought movement during the lesson, in 
so far as that is possible. It is not claimed here that such an ar- 
rangement can be made to meet the needs of the pupils in full; 
a final adjustment of this kind must always be made by the teacher 
in the presence of the class. Much can be done, however, to make 
this final adjustment by the teacher as simple and efficient as 
2* Netherlands, System 12, cited pp. 60-61. 



% 

Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 8i 

possible. It would seem to be wholly practicable for the curriculum 
to arrange the materials bearing upon a single problem in the fol- 
lowing sequence: 

1. Those experiences might be indicated which will be essential 

to suggest the problem; 

2. The problem might then be indicated; 

3. The several sub-divisions, or sub-problems might then follow; 

4. In connection with each sub-problem there might appear the 

facts or materials necessary to its solution; 

5. The conclusion to be derived should be stated, together with 

the facts upon which it is based in clear and concise form, 
so as to exhibit the relations to be developed in as forceful 
a manner as possible. 

Extent to which Courses of Study Arrange the Materials of Instruc- 
tion in Accordance with the Order Here Suggested. 

In general, as may be seen in the illustrations cited on pages 
3-1 1, no attempt at arranging materials with due consideration 
of the needs of the teacher in mind has been made. As previously 
pointed out, problems which would control such an arrangement 
are generally lacking; this does away with the necessity for stating 
the experiences which are to furnish the setting for the problems. 
Sub-problems are likewise ignored and no arrangement of materials 
with reference to problems or sub-problems could therefore be 
attempted. Conclusions are generally lacking. In the illustration 
from System XII, however, we find essentially the arrangement 
here suggested. There is first the material which is to furnish the 
setting for the problem followed by the statement of the problem. 
Sub-problems are lacking and therefore the arrangement of ma- 
terials with reference to them. The conclusion is stated after the 
data necessary for its derivation have been given. The introduction, 
after the statement of the conclusion, of facts not related to the 
problem has been previously criticized. 

The Relation of such Organization of Instruction Materials in the Course 
of Study to Organization of Facts by Pupils. 

It is quite generally recognized that the best courses of study are 
those which indicate not only the aims to be reached and the 
materials to be used in the realization of such aims, but which, 
in addition, point out the methods by means of which this may be 



82 Organization of Instruction Materials 

accomplished. In this manner many helpful suggestions are brought 
to the attention of teachers. The popularity of such courses of 
study is fully attested to by the eagerness with which they are 
used for reference by teachers outside of the system for which they 
were contsructed. Thus certain courses of study have an almost 
national influence and are quite as freely consulted by teachers 
without the system as by those within. Suggestions on method 
are welcomed by teachers generally. 

Now, as was shown above, the organization of facts by the pupil 
is one of the most important ends to be attained by the teacher; 
it is also one of the most difficult. Here then the teacher stands 
in need of help which the course of study must render. It is for 
this reason that the course of study must be organized upon the 
basis suggested, must include a list of vital problems, of settings 
for these problems, of materials to be used in their solution, of con- 
clusions to be drawn. Even if the teacher occasionally is able to 
think of more suitable problems than those suggested by the 
course of study, such assistance will not be rendered unnecessary. 
Two results of great importance should be brought about in this 
manner. In the first place teachers will be given most valuable 
aid in their attempt to organize instruction materials upon a psy- 
chological basis in specific units of instruction. Much of the most 
difficult work of planning lessons with a view of leading to organiza- 
tion of knowledge by the pupils has therefore been done for them. 
In the second place teachers will acquire a method of dealing with 
instruction materials in general; they will come to know much 
more fully than otherwise would be possible what it really means 
to organize materials with a view of making them meaningful. 
The latter result will be quite as important as the immediate service 
rendered. There is therefore a very close relation between the 
organization of courses of study in accordance with the standards 
suggested and the organization of the pupil's knowledge resulting 
from the mastery of the course, 

$.'The Use of Present Courses of Study in the Process of Rebuilding. 
Other Suggestions. 

In the making of courses of study in accordance with the plan 
here suggested, present courses may in some cases be used to ad- 
vantage. Some courses already provide scattering problems in 
some of the branches of study, and these may then be used as 
above suggested. Systems VIII, IX, and XII are cases in point. 



Present Practice in Curriculum-Making 83 

Thus System 'VIII suggests problems in physiology and geography; 
System IX in physiology; and System XII in nature study and 
geography. In many courses the topics to be taught are here sug- 
gested in some detail and therefore afford some guidance as to the 
materials to be presented to the pupils. The courses of Systems I, 
VIII, X, and XII could be used in this manner. Again present 
courses in some instances offer suggestions as to the final organiza- 
tion of materials to be aimed at. System I is an illustration of this 
point. Many courses offer no aid whatever in this respect. 

The task of making a course of study upon the basis here sug- 
gested is one of considerable magnitude and, as has been previously 
suggested, will require the cooperation of teachers and supervising 
officials. In fact, in some communities at least, intelligent laymen 
might be consulted as well and valuable suggestions obtained in 
this manner. The latter would very often be able to suggest prob- 
lems of vital importance as well as data of a certain kind not easily 
obtainable by supervisors and teachers. To the task of making 
the curriculum afresh must be added that of keeping it up to date. 
Frequent revisions will be necessary for this purpose. In many 
instances what makes a problem vital is the fact that it relates to 
some current event; in such a case another problem will have to 
be substituted within a comparatively short time. The revision 
of some part of the curriculum would probably very frequently 
become the order of the day at teachers' meetings. This will make 
it possible for supervisors to motivate teachers' meetings far beyond 
present possibilities, for it will then become necessary to discuss 
the really live issues of teaching and thus make possible that in- 
telligent cooperation between teachers and supervisors so essential 
to best results. 



CHAPTER FIVE 

THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES STATED TO 
CURRICULUM-MAKING — TYPE ILLUSTRATIONS 

In the present chapter an attempt has been made to illustraite 
the principles stated in the preceding chapters. The problems 
selected for the purpose represent industrial work, nature study, 
sanitation, geography, arithmetic, and history. They differ in 
comprehensiveness, the first being the least comprehensive. They 
differ also in remoteness from the immediate, practical needs of the 
individual. The first, "How can I make a rug for my doll house " — 
representing industrial work — is one relating to the child's present, 
"practical" affairs, his life of action, and is an illustration of the 
type of problem called above, the "problem of action." The 
second problem, "How shall we protect our porches from the hot 
summer sun, making them as cool and attractive as possible?" 
is an illustration of the class called above, the problem of "the con- 
crete whole." Most of the other problems are of the third type 
aiming at the development of a concept or the application of con- 
cepts in the explanation of a difficulty stated in the problem. The 
problem, " Why do Americans like to travel in the United Kingdom? " 
has for its purpose fixing certain facts previously used in connec- 
tion with other problems and certain others having a conventional 
value. 

PROBLEM I 

How shall we make a rug for our doll house? 
References. 

1. Rouillion, "Economics of Manual Training." 

2. Wheeler, "How To Make Rugs." 

The house has been built; paper has been hung. Furnishing 
the house is the next step. The first problem that arises is "What 
shall be done with the floors?" The assumption is that children 
will decide to cover some of the floors with rugs. Consequently 
the problem: 

84 



% 

Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 85 

How shall we make a rug for our parlor? 

1. What kind of material shall we select for the rug? 
We might use 

Rags — A rug of this kind would be quite durable, and the material can 

easily be gotten. 2:22 
Cotton-roving — A finer material than rags and easily worked into rug. 

More pleasing colors — Cheap. 
Coarse yarn — Germantown. Makes a fine rug. Pattern rug could be 
made from this material. A finer material than cotton-roving and 
better suited to the small rooms of a doll house. 
Jute — Inexpensive; easily worked (harsh rug) . 
Raffia — Also inexpensive; easily woven. Softer than jute. 
2. How to weave the rug? 

Reference— 1:29. 2:28-42. 

Children make the rug. 

Which rug is best suited for the parlor? 

Consider material, workmanship, appearance, suitability for purpose. 

Note. The statement of a conclusion would be impossible here because the 
workmanship of the pupils will play a very important part in the appearance of 
the rugs made. 

PROBLEM II 

How shall we protect our porches from the hot summer sun, mafiing them as coot and 
attractive as possible? 

References. 

1. Meier, " School and Home Gardens." 

2. Burkett, Stevens and HiU, "Agriculture for Beginners." 

3. Bailey, "Garden-Making," pp. 291-302. 

4. Spring HiU Nurseries catalog. 

5. "Helps to a Beautiful Home," Peter's Nursery Co., pp. 18-20. 

6. Catalog, Bobbink & Atkin's Nursery, Rutherford, N. J., pp. 69-73. 

7. Catalog, Storrs & Harrison, Painesville, O. 

Have the children recall some houses which make ideal summer homes. Why 
do they? Usually such houses are surrounded by spacious lawns planted with 
shade trees, flowers and shrubbery. Often the houses are covered with vines giving 
them an attractive and cool appearance. Such homes are ideal in summer for 
both play and rest. 

Why do not people in general provide cool and attractive summer homes? Many 
houses are not so situated as to have shade sufficient for the comfort of the occu- 
pants. Shade trees are lacking. In many cases it would require a considerable 
number of years before trees planted at the present time would afford much shade. 
Shading the house by means of trees is therefore impossible in many cases; what 
could be done under these circumstances to make at least the porches as cool as 
possible? (Porches might be shaded in some manner.) 

1. What are the several means which we might use for the purpose? 

(a) Shades; cloth, bamboo, wood. 

(b) Vines of various sorts. 4:37; 5:18. 



86 Organization of Instruction Materials 

2. Why would vines be preferable to shades? 

(o) They are more attractive. See illustrations 2:268-269; 7:128-129; 

4:37. 
(b) They are cooler. See 2 :268, for illustration. 

3. What kind of vine shall we select for our purpose? 

(a) It must afford an abundance of shade. 

(b) It should grow rapidly so as to give us shade early in the summer. 

(c) For purposes of ornamentation it would be well to have a flowering 

vine. 

(d) It should be rather inexpensive. 

4. What vines would meet these conditions? 

{a) Of those which the children know. Have children recall or observe 
vines of the community with the preceding points in mind. Morn- 
ing glory, wild cucumber, clematis, etc., may be mentioned. 
(b) Some which the children may not know: Virginia creeper; wistarias; 
Japanese honeysuckle; etc. Study these vines first hand to de- 
termine which would be most satisfactory for our purpose. (Resi- 
dences where these vines may be seen might be indicated here.) 
See also photographic illustrations: 7:129. 
For descriptions see 1:164-167. 
Partial Summary: "The Virginia creeper has beautiful, five-pointed leaves 
that turn to rich crimson in autumn. ... It is a quickgrowing vine, and there 
is nothing superior as a shade plant for arbors and verandas." While it will do 
best in a rich loam it will grow in any kind of soil. It requires no protection in 
winter. This plant will therefore be our choice. 

5. Where may it be secured? 

Storrs & Harrison, Painesville, O., at 20^ each or 10 for $1.50. 
Spring Hill Nursery, Tippecanoe City, O., at 20j!S each or 6 for $1.00. 

6. How shall it be planted? 

No special preparation of ground is needed, although, to secure best results, 
a trench may be dug and filled with rich loam and leaf mold. 1 :164. 

7. What support and care does it require? 1:164. 

Final Summary: The most satisfactory vine for covering a porch is the Vir- 
ginia creeper. It is quick-growing, affords excellent shade, grows in any kind of 
soil and requires little care. It may be secured from Storrs & Harrison, Paines- 
ville, O., at 20fS each or 10 for $1.50, or from Spring Hill Nursery, Tippecanoe City, 
O., at 20fi each or 6 for $1.00. To do its best it should be planted in trenches about 
one foot or more deep filled with loam. Wires may be strung for its support. 

PROBLEM III 

Tiiberculosis 
References. 

1. Ritchie, "Primer of Sanitation," chapters XIII and XIV. 

2. Ritchie, " Human Physiology," chapter XXVI. 

3. Willis, "Essentials of Health," chapter XXXIX. • 
Note the prevalence of the disease. Its various forms. Some forms are common 

in children. Most people tuberculous. (1:61) Cost of the disease. Number of 
deaths per year. Danger to all of us. (1:53-55) (2:340) 



% 

Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 87 

What can we do to help in the fight against tuberculosis? 
1. To know how to fight it successfully 

ia) We must know how the disease is caused. 

The germ of tuberculosis: its nature; where found; conditions 
under which it thrives. (1:54) (2:340-341) 
{b) We must know further how the disease is communicated. 
How the germs are taken into the body. 
By inhaling them. (2:342; 1:55) 
By taking them in with our food. (2:341; 1:55) 
Sources with which people are likely to come in contact. 
The rooms of consumptives, dishes, clothing, sputum deposited 

in public buildings and conveyances, etc. 
Milk and meats. 
References. (1:55-56; 59-60; 2:341-343) 
Tuberculosis is not inherited. (1 :67-68) 

(c) We must know further what people are most likely to contract the 
the disease. 

Those whose systems are weakened from over-work, lack of good 

food, lack of fresh air, and from other diseases. 
Those whose systems are weakened by alcohol. (1:58-59) 
{d) We must also know what are effective methods of treating those 
who suffer from the disease. 
Importance of rest, nutritious food, fresh air, warm and dry 

clothing, cheerfulness, and a good physician. (1:65-66) 
Why patients should be treated near or at home rather than in 

distant states. 
Why state sanatoria are valuable factors in the treatment of 

tuberculosis. (1:66-67) 
Why the disease should be treated in the early stages. (1-61-62) 

References. 1:61-70; 2:343-346; 3:272-275. 
2. What can we do to fight the disease? 

{a) We should make an effort to keep ourselves free from it. 
How this can be done. 

(1) We must keep our bodies strong to resist the disease, breath- 

ing an abundance of fresh air, taking plenty of exercise, 
eating nutritious foods, abstaining from alcoholic liquors. 

(2) We must be on our guard against infected sources, infected 

houses, public buildings, drinking cups, etc. and careless 
consumptives. 

(3) We must be on our guard against infected foods, especially 

milk. 

(&) We may make an effort to keep the disease from spreading by 
making our homes and public places as sanitary as possible. Thus, 

(1) we may insist upon thorough ventilation. 

(2) we may insist that people do not expectorate in public build- 

ings and conveyances. There are laws to this effect and 
we should aid in their enforcement. 



88 Organization of Instruction Materials 

(3) Houses known to have been inhabited by consumptives should 

be thoroughly disinfected before others live in them. 

(4) Public halls and conveyances should be disinfected at regular 

intervals, 
(c) We may aid those who suffer from the disease to get well. 

(1) We may advise them against the use of patent remedies and 

quack physicians. 

(2) We may suggest consultation with a specialist. 

(3) We may in some cases advise upon the essentials of good 

treatment and aid in its enforcement. 

(4) We may give financial aid for the establishment or mainten- 

ance of sanatoria, or for the support of individual patients. 

Conclusion: Tuberculosis is a germ disease transmitted usually by inhaling 
the germ or taking it into the body with unsanitary foods. People whose systems 
are weakened in any way are especially subject to the disease. The principal 
factors in its treatment are abundance of fresh air, rest, nutritious food, and a 
good physician. We may fight it (o) by keeping our bodies strong to resist the 
germ; (b) by making our homes and public places sanitary; (c) by aiding those 
who suffer from it with advice and money to get well. 

PROBLEM IV 

Why does Great Britain buy wheat, meat, other foodstuffs, and cotton of America, 
and why does she pay for them in manufactured goods? 

References. 

1. Tarr & McMurry's New Geography — Second Book. 

2 . D odge — Advanced . 

3. Dryer, High School Geography. 

4. Statesman's Yearbook, 1913. 

5. Brigham's Commercial Geography. 

6. Allen's " Industrial Studies" — Europe. 

Recall the exports of the United States to Great Britain. (What products does 
America sell to Great Britain?) United States: Cotton, breadstuff s, meat and 
dairy products, mineral oil. Canada: Meat, hides, cheese, wheat and timber. 
See Tarr & McMurry, New Geographies, Second Book, p. 411; also Dodge's 
Advanced Geography, p. 186. Note the nature of these exports. 
1. Why does Great Britain buy foodstuffs of America? 

Why does she not produce them at home in sufficient quantities for her 
people? 
(a) Are conditions in Great Britain favorable for agriculture? 

(1) Surface. Much of it is rocky and mountainous, unfit for farm- 
ing. Locate highlands of Scotland (Grampians), Northern 
England (Cheviot HiUs and Pennine Range), and Wales 
(Cambrian Mountains). Locate the lowlands of Scot- 
land and England. 
Find approximately the amount of land suited for agriculture. 
Locate the highlands and lowlands of Ireland. About how 
much of the surface seems suited for agriculture? 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum- Making 89 

(2) Climate. Oceanic; in spite of high latitude not very cold at 

any time during the year. Abundant rainfall everywhere; 
more of the western than on the eastern coast of the country. 
See map of rainfall, Tarr & McMurry, p. 264. 

(3) Soil. Very fertile generally on lowlands, but rather sterile in 

eastern and England. 

References. Tarr & McMurry's New Geography, Second Book, p. 264; 
Dodge, Advanced Geography, pp. 226-227. 
Conditions for agriculture are quite favorable for, while highlands occupy 
nearly all of Scotland and considerable parts of England and Wales, the soil of the 
lowlands is fertile and the climate is humid and mild. 

(b) To what extent do the British make use of their opportunities for 

agriculture? 

(1) Proportion of land tilled: 32% in England and Wales. (3:437) 

Manner of tilling land. Yield per acre. (5:306; 4:60-61) 

(2) Principal crops raised: oats, barley, wheat; turnips, potatoes, 

beans, peas; flax and hops. (1:265; 2:227) 

(3) How these crops are distributed. Why? (2:227) 

(4) Proportion of land in pasture. About two-thirds of area. 

(2:227) Why? (1:265) 

(5) Products of the pasture lands. What are they? Cattle, 

giving meat, butter, milk, cheese, and hides; sheep, fur- 
nishing meat, wool, hides. (1:265; 2:227) 
The value of these products. (4:61) 

Conclusion: The lowlands and plains of Great Britain are tilled carefully, 
wheat, oats and barley being raised with a higher average yield per acre than in 
other countries. Turnips, potatoes, beans and peas are also raised in large amounts. 
Parts of the country too rough and rocky for farming, or having too sterile a soil 
are largely used for pasture lands, about two-thirds of the country being used in 
this way. Cattle giving meat, butter, milk, cheese, and hides; sheep, furnishing 
mutton, wool, and hides are produced in these lands. These products are of con- 
siderable value. It would seem therefore that the British make good use of their 
agricultural resources. If more grain and root crops were produced this would 
probably be done at the risk of reducing the meat supply. 

(c) How do England's fisheries aid her in solving her food problem? 

(1) Where do the English fish? (1:266) 

(2) The kinds of fish caught. Sole, cod, haddock, herring. 

Oyster fisheries along south coast. Salmon in rivers of 
northern Great Britain. (1 :266) 

(3) The importance of the industry: number of men and vessels 

employed. (1:266) 

(4) Principal fishing centers: London, Hull, Grimsby, Aberdeen, 

Great Yarmouth, Harwich. 

(5) Value of the product. Second only to the United States. 

(2:229) 
Supply is sufficient to meet the demand. Worth $50,000,000 
in 1908. (5:310) (4:65) 



go Organization of Instruction Materials 

Conclusion: Because of the nearness of excellent fishing grounds in the North 
Sea and in the ocean north and west of the islands the British are enabled to secure 
fish to the value of about $50,000,000 per year. Sole, cod, haddock, herring are 
caught in the ocean, oysters along the south coast of England, and salmon in the 
rivers of Northern Great Britain. The quantity of fish caught is sufficient to meet 
the demand. 

{d) Even with the aid of the fisheries, however, Great Britain does not 
succeed in supplying sufficient foodstuffs for her people, for her 
population is about 45,000,000 with a density of 634 per square 
mile in England and Wales. (3:437; 5:305-306; 2:226; 4:79) 
How does Great Britain secure the necessary additional supplies? 

(1) From where do they come? 

From the United States; wheat, meat, lard, butter, cheese. 
From her colonies; 

Canada: Grain, beef, dairy products. (2:186) 

Ceylon: Rice, tea, cocoa. (2:307-308) 

Egypt: Cereals. (2:282) 

India: Rice, tea, wheat, oil seeds. (2:306) 
The United Kingdom depends upon her colonies largely for 

foodstuffs. 

(2) Why do the English colonies send their surplus foodstuffs to 

Great Britain rather than to other countries? 
Great Britain offers more favorable conditions to importers 

of foodstuffs than those countries in which foodstuffs abound. 
Thus in Great Britain foodstuffs are admitted free of duty 

while in many countries they are subjected to a high tariff. 

(5:318; 268) 
Colonies need those things which the mother country can 

supply. 
Colonies use the same language as the mother country. (1 :275) 

(3) How these foodstuffs are brought to Great Britain. 

Note the ports in colonies and foreign countries from which 

foodstuffs are sent to the United Kingdom. 
New York, Montreal, Colombo, Alexandria, Bombay, Cal- 
cutta, Madras. 
Note the sea routes by which they are brought to Great 

Britain. 
Locate the chief ports of entry and observe the importance 
of each: London, Liverpool, Glasgow. (1:272-274; 2:231) 
Note the means of distribution: railroads and canals. (5:312- 
314; 315-316) 
Conclusion: Since Great Britain is unable to provide sufficient foodstuffs for 
her people through agriculture and fisheries she is compelled to import some from 
the United States, Canada, Egypt, India, Ceylon, etc. All of these imports must 
be brought across the seas, some coming through the Suez Canal, the Mediter- 
ranean, and the Strait of Gibraltar, while others are brought across the Atlantic 
Ocean. The chief ports of entry are London, Liverpool, and Glasgow. From 
these ports they are distributed to the various manufacturing centers over a sys- 
tems of canals and railways. 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 91 

Conclusion to (1). Conditions on the whole are favorable in the United King- 
dom and the people raise about as much of agricultural produce as possible. They 
supplement agricultural products with fish but do not succeed in meeting the needs 
of the country for foodstuffs. Much must be imported from the United States 
and the British colonies. 

2. Why does the United Kingdom pay for the foodstuffs and raw materials 
she buys from the United States, other foreign countries, and her col- 
onies with manufactured goods? 
What she gives in return for imports of foodstuffs will be indicated by her 

exports to the United States, her colonies, etc. 
What are our principal imports from the United Kingdom? Cotton goods, 

woolen goods, tin, manufactured fibres, pottery. (1:411) 
What does Great Britain export to Canada? Steel manufactures and 

woolens. 
What are the United Kingdom's exports to Egypt, India, Ceylon? 
Woolen goods, cotton goods, and steel manufactures seem to be produced 
in sufficient quantities to be used in payment of the imports of foodstuffs. 
(1:410-411; 2 :xi-Appendix) 
How can the United Kingdom manufacture woolen goods in sufiicient 
quantities to export them? 
(o) Where is the raw wool obtained? 

Is there an abundance of raw wool produced in the country? 
Recall what has been said on this point. (1 :265) 
Not sufficient to account for the exports of woolens? 
From what other sources is the deficiency made up? (6:84) 

(b) Where the raw wool is manufactured into cloth and yarns. 
(Bradford and Leeds with surrounding towns constitute the chief 

wool-manufacturing district. (1:268) 

(c) What conditions favor the manufacture of woolen goods in this region? 

Historic causes. (5:308-309) 

Presence of some of the raw material because of nearness to sheep- 
growing region.. (1:268) 
Nearness to coalfields. 

(d) The value of the product; importance of the industry. (4:70) 

(e) Why the product is so desirable. (Fine quality.) 

Conclusion: The United Kingdom is able to export woolens in large quantities 
because 

(a) raw wool is produced in great quantities in Scotland and England; 
(&) additional wool for manufacturing purposes is easily imported from 

the colonies and from foreign countries; 
(c) coal and water power are readily available for running the mills; 
{d) The product is in great demand because of its superior quality and 
therefore its manufacture is profitable; it is manufactured in 
much larger quantities than needed for home consumption. 

References. 1:267-268; 2:30; 5:308-309; 6:83-87. 

3. Why does the United Kingdom engage so extensively in the manufacture 

of cotton goods? 

(a) Importance of the cotton industry. 



92 Organization of Instruction Materials 

The cities engaged in its manufacture. Manchester and others in 

that region. (5:309; 5:306-7) 
The number of men employed. (6:80) 
The amount of raw cotton used. (1:268) 
Value of product. (4:70) 

(b) Why cotton goods are successfully manufactured in the United 

Kingdom. 
Skilled labor in abundance. 
Climatic conditions are favorable. 
Coal for power is easily obtainable. 
Raw cotton is easily imported from United States and Egypt. 

(c) Product is valuable because of the constantly increasing demand 

for it. (5:38-39) 

Conclusion: The English people engage extensively in the manufacture of 
cotton because: 

(a) the product is valuable; the demand for it almost universal; 

(b) conditions for the successful manufacture of cotton goods are most 

excellent, England having skilled labor in abundance; 

(c) favorable cUmatic conditions; 

(d) coal within easy reach; 

(e) raw cotton brought by boat to within a few miles of the manufac- 

turing district. 
References. L; 268-269; 2:229-230; 6:80-83; 5:306-307. 

4. Why the iron and steel industry has become so prominent in the United 

Kingdom. 

(a) The demand for various kinds of iron and steel goods excellent, 

especially in the colonies of the country. 
(&) This demand the British try to meet as may be seen from the va- 
riety of articles produced in the various centers : 
Birmingham: Railroad irons, steam engines, bicycles, firearms, 

watches, jewelry. 
Sheffield: Armor plate, steel rails, cutlery. 
Glasgow: Locomotives, machinery, ships, 
(c) The conditions for the manufacture of iron and steel goods are very 
excellent in the various centers for iron ore, coal, and limestone 
are found in close proximity to each and in great abundance. 
(1:267-269; 2:229-230; 6:87-91) 
Conclusion: The iron and steel industry has developed so greatly because of 
the demand for this class of goods. The United Kingdom finds an excellent market 
for its product in its colonies. Conditions for the manufacture of this class of goods 
are excellent. 

Reeeeences. See (c) above. 

5. It will be noted that both foodstuffs and raw materials used for manu- 

facturing, on the one hand, and the manufactured goods on the other, 
have to be carried for thousands of miles in some cases before they reach 
their destination. Here note again the sources of foodstuffs and of raw 
materials as well as the markets for the manufactured goods. How can 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 93 

the United Kingdom ship her raw materials and her manufactured goods 

so great a distance profitably? 

(a) The goods are carried by steamships, in some cases almost directly 
to the manufacturing cities, or from these cities to the markets. 
Note the proximity of the manufacturing centers to the seaports. 

(&) Some of the inland centers are connected with the ports by means 
of canals of which the United Kingdom has about 4000 miles. 
(5:313) 

(c) Steamship routes (note the principal ones) are owned by the British 
thus keeping the money paid out for freight in the country. 
(1:275; 410) 

{d) Steamers carrying manufactured goods out return ladQn with food- 
stuffs and raw materials thus reducing the cost of freight. 

Conclusion: The United Kingdom, although thousands of miles away from 
the source of some of its raw materials and its markets, is enabled to carry on a 
successful commerce with her distant colonies and foreign nations because of her 
excellent shipping facilities, for the carrying is done in steamships owned by the 
British; steamers carrying the manufactured goods out to the colonies return 
laden with raw materials or foodstufifs. 

References: 1:275-276; 2:230; 5:311-314; 6:76-80. 

Final Conclusion: Great Britain is compelled to buy foodstuffs and raw ma- 
terials of the United States and her own colonies because she does not produce 
sufficient foodstuffs at home and is unable to supply the raw materials which she 
needs for some of her manufactures. She pays for them with manufactured goods 
— woolens, cottons, and steel — because the conditions necessary for producing 
them cheaply are very favorable and the cost of transportation of both raw ma- 
terials and the manufactured articles is low. 



PROBLEM V 

Why does the United Kingdom maintain so large a navy? 
References. 

1. The Statesman's Year-Book, 1913. 

2. Dodge, Advanced Geography. 

3. Tarr & McMurry, New Geographies; Second Book. 

Recall recent newspaper accounts of the comparative size of the navies of the 
United Kingdom, France, Germany, United States. See also 1:54-60; 797-800; 
872-875; 396-398. Note the cost of a "dreadnaught" and "super-dreadnaught" 
($8,000,000). Call attention to the objection of some of the American people to 
the expenditure of money for warships. 

Why does the United Kingdom maintain so large a navy? 

1. What is the use of a navy? 

Protection in time of war; offence; defence. 

2. Why does the United Kingdom need a navy for this purpose more than 

other coimtries? 
(a) To protect the importation of foodstuffs. How could an enemy of 
the United Kingdom cut off her food supply? 



94 Organization of Instruction Materials 

Many countries raise most of their foodstuffs at home; the United 

Kingdom, however, must import a considerable portion of them. 

Recall where they come from. (2:186; 307-308; 282; 306; 

3:411; 1:79) 
The superior enemy of the country could capture any ships bearing 

foodstuffs to Great Britain. 

(b) To protect the importation of raw materials for manufacturing. 
Why could an enemy's fleet threaten her in this respect? 

While the United States produces much of the raw materials for her 
manufactures the United Kingdom must import them in large 
quantities for her colonies and from the United States. (1:78) 
See also 3:74, 410-411. Recall the various imports of raw ma- 
terials. An enemy's fleet superior to Great Britain's could com- 
pletely cut her off from these important imports, depriving her 
people of their means of making a living. 

(c) To protect the United Kingdom's commerce. 

How could a hostile fleet damage the country's commerce? 

Because of her extensive manufacturing the United Kingdom pro- 
duces immense quantities of manufactured goods which must be 
exported to foreign countries and to her colonies. (1:73-79) 

An immense merchant marine is engaged in carrying the imports 
and exports of the country. (1:80; 3:410) A hostile fleet could 
drive this commerce from the seas and so not only deprive the 
British people of their food supplies and raw materials but also 
deprive thousands of British sailors of their employment. 

(d) To protect her colonies. 

How could a hostile fleet interfere with the United Kingdom's 
colonies? 
It could isolate the colonies like the mother country and even 
appropriate them, since the colonies look for their defence very 
largely to the mother country. 
Conclusion : The United Kingdom must maintain a large navy, 

(a) to protect its importation of foodstuffs and raw materials; 
{b) to protect its commerce; 
(c) to protect its colonies. 

PROBLEM VI 

Why do Americans like to travel in England? 
References. 

1. Coe, "Modern Europe"; pp. 18-91. 

2. Stoddard's Lectures, Vol. IX. 

3. Knox, " Boy Travellers, Great Britain and Ireland." 

4. Allen, "industrial Studies: Europe." 

Recall the fact that many thousands of Americans annually cross the Atlantic 
for the purpose of travelling in Great Britain. Call attention to any local people 
known to the pupils who may have gone there for that purpose recently. Why 
do they go? What places of interest would they find? 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 95 

1. They might visit places famous for their scenery. 

Southern England. Its beautiful landscapes. (1:21-22; 2:169-197 for 

rural views) 
The Lake Country; the region made famous by Coleridge, Southey, and 

Wordsworth. Factors in its beauty: Climate, ruggedness of region, 

the lakes, the vegetation. (1:47-48; 3:252-268) 
The Loch Katrine region in Scotland, made famous by Scott. 
The region is noted for beautiful lakes and high mountains. 
"The lakes are studded with small islands." (1 :69-70; Lady of the Lake) 
Hebrides Islands. lona and Staffa. Fingals Cave the point of interest on 

the latter; and Ancient Chapel on the former. (1:76-78; 2:101-111) 
Lakes of Killarney. Famous for their beauty. (1 :85-86) 
Giant's Causeway. ( 1 :90-9 1 ; 3 :80-88) 

Conclusion: Americans visit the United Kingdom for various reasons. The 
country affords much beautiful scenery, for Southern England has many beauti- 
ful landscapes; the Lake Country, made famous by Coleridge, Southey and Words- 
worth is attractive to tourists because its peculiar climate; the ruggedness of the 
region, the lakes, and the vegetation combine to make this one of the most beauti- 
ful places in England; the Loch Katrine region in Scotland is visited by many 
because its numerous lakes with their many small islands and its high mountains 
makes the scenery the most noteworthy in Scotland. lona and Staffa, two of the 
Hebrides Islands, are visited by some travelers, the former because of an ancient 
chapel and the latter because of a splendid cave washed out by the sea. The Lakes 
of Killarney, the most beautiful and famous lakes in Ireland and the Giant's 
Causeway, a large number of rock pillars extending out of the water, are places of 
scenic beauty in Ireland frequently visited by tourists. 

2. Many of the authors whose books are read in American schools and homes 

lived and wrote in the United Kingdom and made some places famous 

through their writings. 
Stratford-on-Avon, the early home of Shakespeare. (1:50-53; 2:165-177) 
Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. (1 :66-67 ; 2 :59 ff) 
Ayrshire, the home of Robert Burns. (1 :73-75; 2:20-37) 
Dublin, the birthplace of Moore. (1 :88; 3:52) 
Gad's Hill, Rochester, home of Dickens, and some of the places made 

famous by Dickens. (2 :207-224) 
Stoke Pogis and its churchyard made famous through Gray's Elegy. 

(2:149-151) 

Conclusion: The United Kingdom is visited by many Americans who are 
interested in the places made famous by its literary men. Stratford-on-Avon, 
the home of Shakespeare, Abbotsford, the residence of Sir Walter Scott, Ayrshire, 
made famous because of Robert Burns, Dublin, the birthplace of Tom Moore, 
Gad's Hill, Rochester, and other places made famous by Charles Dickens, Stoke 
Pogis and its churchyard remembered through Gray's Elegy. 

3. Some cities prove attractive to tourists. 

Liverpool with its very large harbor and extensive shipping. (1:19-20; 

4:76-78; 3:286-289; 300) 
Manchester, the great cotton manufacturing city of England. Ship 



96 Organization of Instruction Materials 

canal, docks, cotton mills, cotton exchange, technical schools^ university. 

(4:78-83) 
Birmingham, noted for iron and steel manufactures, lenses, stained glass, 

etc. (4:88-91) 
London, the largest city of the world. 

London Tower. (2 :2 67-2 7 1 ; 4 :95-96) 

London Bridge. (2:23-24; 97-98) 
Dicken's House, Devonshire Terrace and others. (2:292-295; some 

houses made famous by him: 2:297 ff.) 
Houses of Parliament. (2:329-336; 4:96-97) 
Glasgow, the great shipbuilding center, where the large ocean steamers are 

built. (1:72-73; 4:27-29) 
Edinburgh, the beautiful capital of Scotland. (1:62-66; 2:47 ff.) 
Dublin, the Irish capital. (1:87-89; 4:50-51) 

Conclusion: Again some Americans are interested in manufacturing and other 
phases of city life. These find Liverpool interesting for its very large harbor and 
its extensive shipping; Manchester for its ship canal, docks, cotton mills, cotton 
exchange, its technical school and university; Birmingham for its extensive manu- 
facture of iron and steel goods, lenses, stained glass, etc.; London for its size, its 
Tower, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament; Glasgow 
for its extensive shipbuilding; Edinburgh for its beauty, and Dublin, the capital 
of Ireland. 

Flnal Conclusion: Americans visit the United Kingdom because of its places 
of scenic interest such as the Lake Country, the Loch Katrine region in Scotland, 
lona and Staffa of the Hebrides Islands, the Lakes of Killarney and the Giant's 
Causeway in Ireland. They also find it interesting to visit the places made famous 
by its literary men; such places as Stratford-on-Avon, the home of Shakespeare, 
Abbotsford, the home of Scott, Ayrshire, the home of Burns, Dublin, the birth- 
place of Tom Moore and others. Gad's Hill, Rochester, one of the homes of Dickens, 
etc. Again some of the cities present interesting sights to tourists because of their 
factories, transportation facilities, etc. Among these may be mentioned Liverpool 
with its large harbor and docks, Manchester, the great cotton manufacturing center 
of the country, Birmingham, the center for the manufacture of iron and steel 
goods, London, the capital of the country, Glasgow, for its shipbuilding, Edin- 
burgh, the beautiful capital of Scotland, and Dublin, the capital of Ireland. 

PROBLEM VII 

How does the British Government encourage manufacturing and commerce? 
References. 

1. Tarr and McMurry, New Geographies, Book Two. 

2. Dodge, Advanced Geography. 

3. Allen, "industrial Studies," Europe. 

4. Statesman's Year-Book, 1913. 

5. Mace, " School History of the United States." 

Recall how the United States protects its industries by means of the protective 
tariff. Importers of foreign merchandise must pay "duty" on it before it is ad- 
mitted to this country. Enumerate some of the articles and produce on which 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 97 

such duty must be paid. How does a high tarifE "protect" the country? (It 
raises the price of the imported article so that the manufacturer in this country 
can charge a higher price for his product.) The tariff is often considered in our 
country as a means for developing manufacturing. The United Kingdom has no 
tariff on raw materials, yet manufacturing is very extensive. 

How does the British government encourage manufacturing and commerce? 
(a) By admitting raw materials free of duty. 

Why does the United Kingdom admit raw materials free of duty? 

Recall the fact that there are not sufficient raw materials in the country; 
that all of the cotton, much wool, lumber, oil seeds, hides, etc., must 
be imported from the colonies and foreign countries. (1:410-411; 
3:81; 4:77) 

To make the raw materials more expensive would increase the price 
of the manufactured article; this increased cost would have to be 
paid either by the home population in case of home consumption 
or by foreign nations in case exported. In case the article is to be 
shipped to countries having a tariff the several tariffs levied upon it 
(that imposed upon the raw material and that upon the manufac- 
tured article at point of entry in foreign country) would make the 
cost of it so high that it probably could not compete at all with the 
similar product at home. 

Conclusion: By admitting raw materials free of duty the United Kingdom 
decreases the cost of the finished product and so enables het factories 
to compete with those of foreign countries. 

{h) By training her workmen more thoroughly than formerly. Recall the 
fact that in many of her factories skilled workmen are needed, in 
fact that the success of many establishments depends upon the 
skilled workmen. What does the United Kingdom do to train its 
workmen? (4:30) 
(c) By providing markets for manufactured goods. 

What does the government do to provide markets for the surplus product 
of her people's manufactures? 

Recall the fact that the United States was once a colony of the United 
Kingdom; that even at that time the mother country did not like 
to have her colonies manufacture articles but wished to supply them 
from her own factories. (5:137) 

Note again the chief colonies of the United Kingdom: Canada, Egypt, 
East India, the South African Union, British East Africa, AustraUa. 

Note the importance of these colonies to the mother country when 
judged by the quantity of imports from the mother country. (4:75-76) 

Conclusion: The English policy of colonizing territory in different parts of the 
world has proved of great importance to her manufacturers by providing them with 
advantageous markets. 

{d) By subsidizing ships for commerce. 

How the United Kingdom encourages her merchant marine. 
Certain steamship companies are paid considerable sums of money for 
the maintenance of ships of a certain tonnage and speed. Such 



98 Organization of Instruction Materials 

ships are used by the companies, but may be called for by the govern- 
ment in time of war to be used for war purposes. 

Conclusion: By subsidizing the merchant marine the United Kingdom en- 
courages the carrying trade of the country, making the merchant marine of that 
country by far the greatest of all countries, and making it possible in this way 
that most of the commerce of the country is carried in British bottoms. 

Final Conclusion: The British government encourages manufacturing and 
commerce in several ways: 

1. By admitting raw materials free of duty it enables the British manufacturer 

to compete with foreign rivals successfully. 

2. By training her workmen in recent years she is attempting to meet the 

demand for skilled labor in her factories. 

3. By colonizing territories in different parts of the world she has established 

markets for the surplus manufactures of her people. 

4. By subsidizing the merchant marine she makes it possible that most of 

the British commerce is being carried in British bottoms, thus keeping 
the money paid out for this purpose in her possession. 

PROBLEM VIII 

What are the conditions essential to the development of a manufacturing center? 
References. 

1. Tarr & McMurry, New Geographies, Book Two. 

2. Dodge's Advanced Geography. 

3. Keller and Bishop, Commerical and Industrial Geography. 

4. Brigham, Commercial Geography. 

Review the essential factors in the development of Minneapolis — as a milling 
center. Nearness to the wheat fields of the Northwest; location on the direct route 
to the markets of the East and of Europe; water power. Recall that Chicago must 
ship in its raw materials, in some instances a long distance; that this city must 
use steam instead of water power; that the New England cities must import their 
cotton and the coal used in running the mills; that much of their product must 
be shipped to distant localities. Neither water power nor proximity to raw ma- 
terials, markets, or coal mines seems to be an essential factor in making cities 
important manufacturing centers. 

What are essential factors which make cities important manufacturing centers? 
1. Is nearness to raw materials one factor? Apparently so in case of Minne- 
apolis, Birmingham, Alabama, Atlanta, etc. (1:113, 79, 82). This is 
not the case, however, with cotton manufacture in the New England 
cities, Fall River, Lowell, Manchester, etc., nor with the manufacture 
of iron and steel goods in Pittsburg, Cincinnati, etc. In each case the 
raw materials have to be shipped long distances before they reach the 
factories. 
It is evident therefore that nearness to raw materials is not one of the 
conditions of a successful manufacturing center; good transportation 
facilities will make it possible for cities to have the necessary raw 
materials shipped in. (4:205) 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculiim-M aking 99 

Partial Summary: While nearness to raw materials is not an essential factor 
in the development of manufacturing centers, accessibility of raw materials is; 
when therefore a city is located some distance from the source of raw materials, 
good shipping facilities are an important factor. 

2. Is water an essential factor? It would seem so from the study of Minne- 

apolis where it plays an important, role; but many important manu- 
facturing cities do not have water power. Chicago, St. Louis, Cincin- 
nati, New York City, Philadelphia, etc. use steam instead of water 
power, while others still use electric power. (1 :65) 

Partial Summary: While water power is not an essential factor in the develop- 
ment of a manufacturing city some form of power must be available. This may 
be either steam or electric power in the absence of water power. 

3. Is nearness to markets an essential factor? It would seem so, for many 

large manufacturing centers are favorably located in this respect. Thus 
farm machinery is manufactured very largely in the North Central 
States, and here principally in Illinois, the state nearest the principal 
farming region of the country. (4:214) The cotton mills of both New 
England and Great Britain also illustrate this point. Many manufac- 
turing centers are not located near the markets. Thus Omaha and 
Kansas City packing meat, Minneapolis producing flour are not located 
near the principal markets, but they are located on the way between 
the source of the raw materials and the ultimate markets. Even this 
is not necessary, however, for much of the cotton cloth manufactured 
in the New England cities mtist be shipped out of that section to the 
western states. This is rendered possible because the freight on the 
light goods is comparatively small. 

Partial Summary: While nearness to markets is not an essential factor it is 
a very important one in the development of a manufacturing center. Unless freight 
rates are low on the articles manufactured in cities remote from markets, such cities 
would find it difficult to compete with those more favorably situated. Accessi- 
bility to markets is an essential factor in the development of manufacturing centers. 

4. What part does labor play in the development of manufacturing centers? 

Cities like Brockton, Mass., Gloversville, N.Y., Cincinnati, Ohio, require 
skilled workmen. Cotton manufacturing had a very late start in the 
South because of the lack of skilled labor. Collars and cuffs are manu- 
factured very largely in Troy and Glens Falls because of the skilled 
labor available for the purpose there and lacking elsewhere. (4:208, 
209-210, 213) 

Partial Summary: Skilled labor is an essential factor in the development of a 
manufacturing center; without it manufacturing becomes impossible. The 
importance of some manufacturing centers like Gloversville, e.g., depends almost 
wholly upon skilled labor. 

5. A locality having power in some form, intelligent labor, and a favorable 

situation with reference to raw materials and markets has most of the 
essential elements of a good manufacturing city. However, it was 
observed in the study of Minneapolis that large mills had been erected for 



loo Organization of Instruction Materials 

grinding the wheat, that wheat had to be bought and ground and then 
shipped thousands of miles in some cases to reach the markets. It 
would seem therefore that money with which to run manufacturing 
establishments is an essential factor in the success of manufacturing 
centers. Is this assumption correct? Note the extensive establishments 
of the meat-packing industry in Chicago, the iron works in Pittsburg, 
the large cotton mills in the New England cities and consider how im- 
possible it would be to manufacture any of these and other classes of 
goods without capital. Capital is undoubtedly an essential factor for 
extensive manufacturing; it seeks for investment those places where 
the four other factors are most favorable. (4:206,208) 

Partial Summary: Capital for financing manufacturing establishment is 
another essential factor in the development of manufacturing centers. 

Final Summary: The following factors seem to be essential in the development 
of manufacturing centers : 

1. Raw materials must be available either because of nearness to the source 

of supply or because of cheap shipping rates. 

2. Power in some form must be obtainable. The cheapest power is water 

power; most of the manufacturing establishments, however, must 
resort to the use of steam and some to electricity. In the second case 
cheap coal rates, or nearness to the coal mines are important. 

3. Accessibility to markets is an indispensable condition. 

4. Skilled labor must be available. 

5. There must be capital to finance manufacturing enterprises. 

PROBLEM IX 

How will the Federalists succeed in establishing the credit of the new government 
at home and abroad? 
References. 

1. Hart, " Formation of the Union," p. 155 ff. 

2. Walker, " Making of the Nation," p. 78 ff. 

3. McMaster, "History of the People of the United States," Vol. II, 

28-55. 

4. Hart, " Source Reader No. Ill," 45-96. 

5. Mace, " School History of the United States," 223-226. 

6. Doub, "History of the United States," 332-337. 

7. Woodburn and Moran, "Elementary American History and Govern- 

ment," pp. 204-207. 

8. Fiske, "The Critical Period in American History." 

9. Schouler," History of the United States," Vol. I, pp. 144-156; 173-177. 

10. Guitteau, " Government and Politics in the United States." 

11. Bassett, "A Short History of the United States." 

The financial situation of the country when the Federalists came into power. 

States are deeply in debt in many cases. The country owes large sums both at 
home and abroad. Consequences: The country's credit is gone; no more money 
can be borrowed. Interest on debt cannot be paid; soldiers must go without pay 
due them. There is no money to meet the current expenses of the government. 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making loi 

People distrust the government and hoard their money so as not to lose it. Busi- 
ness is at a standstiU. (6:279-281; 8:134-186) 

How wiU the Federalists succeed in establishing the credit of the New Govern- 
ment at home and abroad? 

How does the federal government raise money for its maintenance today? 
(10:346-355) 

(a) By tariff. ' 

(b) By income tax. 

(c) By tax on tobacco, spirits, Excise. 

(d) By issuing bonds at times (when large sums are needed at once) . 

How does a state raise money? (10:190-204) 

By direct taxation usually. Different taxes included here: Property; inheri- 
tance; income. 
By issuing bonds at times. 

The advantages and disadvantages of the several methods. 
The tariff is easily administered: Very little machinery is required for the 

purpose. People pay it without being aware of paying a tax. 
It falls unevenly upon different sections of the country, or different classes in 

same section. 
Direct taxes make necessary rather complicated machinery of administration. 
It is difficult to ascertain the actual amount of property owned by the people 

taxed. 
It becomes objectionable because of the obtrusiveness of the machinery for 

administration. People know they are being taxed. 
What has been said of the tariff holds good of other indirect taxes, of course. 
Which of these methods of raising money would probably be suited to the 
needs of the federal government in the time of Washington's administration? 
Tariff — because easily collected and without its being apparent to people. 
Issuing of bonds — to meet large and unusual payments. 
1. How congress attempts to provide money for the immediate needs of the 
government, the running expenses and the interest on the public debt, 
(a) Madison suggests a tariff on imports which Congress finally adopts. 

(11:257) 
(&) What articles were suggested for tariff. (3:580 ff.; 9:87 ff.) 

(c) On what basis the selection was made. 

(1) Luxuries should be taxed: wines, spirits, tea, coffee, molasses, 

sugar. 

(2) Products manufactured at home should be taxed: iron and 

steel goods, paper, leather goods, woolen and cotton goods, 
coal. 

(3) Local influences enter in determining the products needing 

protection. 

(d) How the tariff was to be collected. 
Coast is divided into collection districts. 
Ports of entry and export are established. 
The appointment of collectors is provided for. 

(e) Result of the tariff act. (Income of $200,000 per month) 



I02 



Organization of Instruction Materials 



Conclusion: To provide money for the current expenses of the government 
Congress enacts a tariff law taxing luxuries and articles manufactured at home. 
For the efficient administration of the tariff law collection districts, ports of entry 
and export, and collectorships are established. The income derived from the 
tariff is $200,000 per month which is ample for the purpose. 

Refeeences: 6:332-333. 

2. While the income derived from the tariff would meet the necessary cur- 
rent expenses of the government and probably the interest on the public 
debt carried by foreign nations, Congress was in ignorance of the extent 
of the country's indebtedness at home and therefore requested the secre- 
tary of the treasury to make a report upon the actual status of the 
country's financial affairs. This report showed 
a foreign debt aggregating $12,000,000; 
a domestic federal debt of $42,000,000; 

state debts incurred in war and still unpaitl of $21,000,000. (11 :259) 
How the Federalists took care of these debts. 

(a) What Hamilton suggested concerning the manner in which these 
debts should be paid and the reasons he gave for his plan. 

(1) The nation should assume the state debts. 

(2) The entire debt should be funded. (6:335) 

(3) His reasons for this course: 

Public credit depends upon good faith of the government 

toward its creditors. 
The measures suggested wiU establish public confidence by 
assuring payment of debts at face value. 
(9:132; 6:332-335) 
{b) Why some of Hamilton's recommendations were opposed by some 
people. 

(1) Why people objected to paying the domestic debt in full. 

(11:259) 
Payment of interest alone would cause ruinous rate of 

taxation. 
People accepting the certificates originally did not expect 

payment in full. 
Original holders of certificates would not receive the benefit 

of full reimbursement, but speculators instead. 

(2) Why people objected to the assumption of state debts. 

(11:259-260) 
They held that 

It was unfair to the states who had nearly paid their debts; 
This additional burden would necessitate additional taxa- 
tion and so encroach upon the rights of the states in this 
respect. 
(c) How the Federalists bargained for assumption. (11:260) 

They promised the South the location of the capital on the Potomac 
if the assumption bill should become a law. Two Virginians were 
to vote for assumption while certain northern congressmen were 
to vote for location of capital on Potomac. 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 103 

{d) How Congress finally decided the matter. 

Both the bill for assumption and that for fimding the debts of 
the country are passed. $12,000,000 to pay the foreign debt 
is to be borrowed and money to be reimbursed within 15 years. 
Loan for the domestic debt is authorized providing that two- 
thirds of the amount should draw interest at six per cent from 
January 1, 1791; the remaining one-third at the same rate from 
1800. Arrears of interest were to be funded at full value and to 
draw interest at three per cent from July 1, 1791, redeemable at 
pleasure of the government. 
References: 2:78-80. 
Conclusion: To care properly for the debt of the country, both the foreign 
and the domestic, the federal government is to assume the payment of the state 
debts incurred in the Revolutionary war, fund the entire debt of the country at 
face value. 

3. The assumption of the state debts created a deficit in the treasury calling 
for a larger amount of money for the payment of interest. More money 
must therefore be provided. (11:260-261) 
How were additional funds to be secured? 
(ff) Why the tariff could not be increased on imported articles. (Would 

stop importation altogether.) 
ih) What Hamilton proposed. 

(1) An excise, duty on distilled spirits. 

(2) A national bank. 

(c) What Hamilton expected of these measures. 

(1) Duty on distilled liquors would increase revenue. Federal ma- 

chinery for collecting it would be light. By increasing the 
tariff on imported spirits the home manufacturers would 
suffer little. The more intelligent part of the community 
would gladly see the use of spirits discouraged. 

(2) Sale of the stock of the bank would render more money avail- 

able for business and government. 
Through the bank money could be borrowed, collected and 
paid out. 
{d) Why people objected to the proposed laws. 

(1) Excise law. (3:26-28) 

The national goverimient should not tax our own products. 
The law would be unfair since it reached only a part of the 
people. 

(2) National bank. (3:29-31) 

It would constitute a dangerous power in politics. 
It woiild be imconstitutional. 
(e) How the argument of unconstitutionality was answered. 

Constitution grants certain "implied powers." 
(/) How Washington felt concerning the opposition arguments. 
(3:35-36) 
Calls for statements from both Jefferson and Hamilton. 



I04 Organization of Instruction Materials 

(g) How the measures were finally disposed of by Congress. (3:32) 

Congress passes both bills, limiting the charter of the bank to 
twenty years. 

Conclusion: To provide additional funds for the government Hamilton pro- 
posed an excise bill which after vigorous opposition was passed by Congress. He 
likewise advocated a national bank. Through such an institution he held a " much- 
needed and safe currency" would be provided; "it would enable the government 
to sell its bonds quickly at home and abroad; it would furnish a safe and cheap 
means of exchange for the people"; "it would enable the government to transfer 
its funds cheaply; and it would furnish a safe place for the keeping of public 
funds." 

While there was much opposition to the measure on the ground that the bank 
would be a dangerous power in politics and that it would be unconstitutional, 
Congress finally passed the biU. 

4. How did the financial measures of Hamilton affect the confidence of the 
people in the new government? (5:224-225; 11:261, 267-269) 
{a) Both Europeans and Americans had more confidence in the new 
government as shown by 

people bringing their money from hiding; 
increased foreign and domestic commerce; 
growth of manufactories. 
(6) In the course of the debates of funding, assumption, and the national 
bank clearly defined differences became apparent with regard to 
the interpretation of the constitution, one group favoring strict 
Construction while the other group loose or liberal Construction, 
(c) Some of the farmers of Pennsylvania opposed the excise law so 
bitterly that they rebelled against its enforcement and resorted 
to arms. 
They were speedily quieted down by the federal government, how- 
ever. 

Conclusion: To establish the credit of the country the Federalists: 
1 levy a tariff to provide for current expenses; 

2. assume the debts of the states incurred for the war and fund the total 

debt of the country; 

3. pass an excise law to raise the money necessary for the payment of interest 

and principal of the state debt assumed; 
, 4. establish a national bank to secure money from the sale of stock and 
render it available for business and for the government; to collect and 
pay moneys through the bank. 
The result was revival of business and of confidence in the financial ability of 
the government. 

Incidentally, through disagreement on the funding and assumption biUs and 
later on the bank bill differences regarding the manner of interpreting of the Con- 
stitution arise. These differences lead to the establishment of a new party. 

A revolt resulting from an attempt to enforce the excise law in Pennsylvania 
was quickly put down by the federal government and the respect for that govern- 
ment increased. 



Application of the Principles Stated to Curriculum-Making 105 



PROBLEM X 

What would he the most advantageous way of paying hills to husiness houses located 
at a distance? 
References. 

1. Smith, Grammar School Arithmetic. 

2. Philips & Anderson, The Silver-Burdett Arithmetics, Book Two. 

The problem may arise in some such a way as the following; The school has 
ordered seeds and bulbs for school garden and nature study. The materials are 
to come from a distant city. Inquire of children how money might be sent. It 
may be sent by registered letter, by money order (postal or express), by check or 
by draft. Which of these ways would be the most advantageous to the sender? 
Suppose the amount to be sent were $10.00. 

1. \Vliat would be the cost to send this amount by postal money order? Rates 
are as follows: 

Amounts up to $ 2.50 3 cents 

5.00 5 " 

10.00 8 " 

20.00 10 " 

30.00 12 " 

40.00 15 " 

50.00 18 " 

60.00 20 " 

75.00 25 " 

100.00 30 " 

1:341; 2:207. 

To send this amount by postal money order would therefore cost 8 cents. 
As the rate of express money orders is the same, an express money order for 
$10.00 would also be 8 cents. 

2. What would be the cost of sending $10.00 by registered letter? 
Registration is 10 cents. To send the amount in bills, therefore, would cost 

10 cents, which would be 2 cents more than by money order. 

3. What would be the cost of sending this amount by check or draft? (1 :342) 
Business firms frequently request customers to add 10 cents to 15 cents to amount 

of bill if it is paid by check. This is due to the fact that banks charge from 10 
cents to 15 cents "exchange" when checks are cashed by the payee. This would 
make this method more expensive on $10.00 than a money order. 

To send $10.00 by draft. In this case a check is made out by the cashier of a 
bank for which a slight charge, usually 0.1% is made. Such a banker's check is 
called a draft. It is made payable to the person to whom the money is owed. On 
$10.00 the cost, or exchange, would be 1 cent. Banks, however, charge a mini- 
mum amount of 10 cents. This plan, therefore, would be more expensive than 
money orders. 

To send $10.00, therefore, it would be most advantageous to use a postal or 
express money order. 

4. What would be the cost of sending $20.00 in the various ways? 
To send by postal or express money order the cost would be 10 cents. 
To send by registered letter the cost also would be 10 cents. 



io6 Organization of Instruction Materials 

To send by check where exchange is charged the cost would be 10 cents at least. 

To send by draft the cost would be 10 cents. 

In this case the cost of sending is the same whatever mode is chosen. 

5. What would be the cost of sending $30.00 in the several ways? 

By money order 12 cents 

By registered letter 10 cents 

By check 10 cents 

By draft 10 cents 

6. Find cost of sending $40.00, $50.00, $60.00. 

Conclusion: For amounts up to $10.00 the most economical way of sending 
money is the money order. For amounts from $10.00 to $20.00 the cost of sending 
is the same regardless what plan is followed. For amounts above $20.00 the regis- 
tered letter, check, and draft are the most economical. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Angell, J. R. Psychology. (Fourth edition) 
Bain, Alexander. Logic: Inductive and Deductive. 
Bolton, F. E. Principles of Education. 
Creighton, J. E. Introductory Logic. 

DeGarmo, Charles. Principles of Secondary Education: Processes of Instruc- 
tion. 
Dewey, John. Psychology. 

Studies in Logical Theory. 

How We Think. 
HoBHOUSE. Mind in Evolution. 

Theory of Knowledge. 
King, I. E. Psychology of Child Development. 
Lang, S. E. Primer of General Method. 
McMuRRY, F. M. How to Study. 

Elementary School Standards. 
Method of the Recitation. 
Miller, I. E. Psychology of Thinking. 

Meumann, E. Vorlesunguen zur Einfuhrung in die experimentelle Padagogik. 
Monroe, P. Cyclopedia of Education. (Various articles) 

RiCKERT, Heinrich. Die Grenzen der naturwissenschaftlichen Begriffsbildung. 
Thorndike, E. L. Original Nature of Man. 
Venn, John. Empirical Logic. 
Welton, J. Logical Bases of Education. 



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